


Vice and Virtue

by MeganRosenberg



Category: Charmed (TV)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Kidnapping, Magic, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Threats of Violence, Violence, teen prue halliwell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-06-12 09:23:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15336792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRosenberg/pseuds/MeganRosenberg
Summary: Sixteen year old Prue Halliwell is kidnapped by demons who unbind her powers and attempt to convince her to use her magic for their cause. As the various demons consistently threaten her well-being and tell her that her grandmother is the villain, Prue struggles to know who to trust and whether or not to try to escape.





	1. Chapter 1

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CHAPTER 1

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"Hey, little girl!" Someone called out from behind her.

Prue frowned. Surely whoever it was wasn't talking to her... She was sixteen years old... NOT a little girl. She pulled her backpack further up her shoulder and quickened her pace down the sidewalk.

"Excuse me! You in the little green dress!" The voice shouted again.

Prue felt her cheeks grow red. She was wearing a green dress. But she chose not to turn toward the voice anyway, if only because him calling her a 'little girl' had felt so offensive. She had no obligation to respond to catcalls or idiots. She held her head high and continued walking.

It was bad enough that her grandmother treated her like a child. She wasn't going to let some strange man she didn't even know get away with doing the same.

"Honey, I'm talking to you." The voice was closer now. Too close, in fact.

Prue held her breath as she turned toward the noise, now accompanied by the sound of a car driving very close to the sidewalk. Whoever the guy was, he was actually following her. What a creep... She glared at him through his car's window as he grinned back at her, obviously happy to have finally gotten her attention.

"What?" She growled at the stranger. He wanted her attention... Well, now he had it. That didn't mean she was going to be nice to him.

He smiled up at her and laughed. He looked to be in his mid twenties or early thirties. His hair was a sort of shaggy cut falling almost to his shoulders and his eyes were a vibrant shade of blue. If she weren't so annoyed by him, she may have even been charmed by his appearance.

But she was annoyed, so she continued glaring, waiting for him to answer her question. She wasn't the one who had initiated this. He was. It was his turn to explain himself. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stared. He looked so smug and amused.

"Sorry if I scared you." He smiled very subtly, his eyes looking like half-moons.

"Um... I wasn't- Y-you didn't..." Prue stuttered, feeling almost taken in by his unnaturally blue eyes. Shaking her head, she blinked and refocused. It didn't matter how gorgeous his eyes were. "What do you want?"

He laughed again. "Again, I didn't mean to be creepy... I know how that must have looked. It's just, I run a company that does photography for various clothing lines, and we're in need of teen models."

Prue laughed nervously and rolled her eyes. "You don't mean to be creepy? And that's your next line? No thanks."

She turned to walk away. How stupid did this guy think she was? He expected her to believe a random guy would just show up out of nowhere and make her rich and famous? That kind of stuff only happened in movies... Or television crime shows where the young girls lured in my rapists pretending to be capable of turning them into famous actresses and models ended up found naked and dead in a ditch somewhere.

"Wait!" He pulled his car up next to the sidewalk and parked it, finally getting out and following her on foot.

Prue swallowed as she looked back at him. He was clearly in good shape. Muscular, tall... long legs... Which meant he could out-run her if he wanted. She quickened her pace, and so did he.

"I'm not interested!" She called over her shoulder as she walked faster.

As she quickened her pace to a near-jog, Prue looked up at the buildings and houses lining the street. Half of them were abandonned, stores that had been closed years ago, houses which were deemed unsafe to live in when inspected. Why did the creepy murderer have to approach her during the stretch of her walk home where there would be no witnesses?

"I know it sounds bad... but I'm being honest here!" The man persisted, quickening his pace too.

"Go away!" Prue yelled back to him. "I'll scream if you don't stop following me..." She threatened, sounding out of breath.

He laughed. "That's not necessary, Sweetheart. Honey, stop... Stop running. Look. I'm not following you. I just want to talk."

Prue frowned and looked over her shoulder, slowing her pace when she noticed the man had stopped his brisk walk. He just stood there, in the middle of the sidewalk, looking at her as though he thought she was being ridiculous.

"I'm being honest here, Love." The man went on. "I know it sounds far-fetched, but modeling is a legitimate profession lots of young women like yourself pursue. You've got just the look a lot of clothing brands would love. Sweet, innocent, girl next door... but with something extra. Honey, you're beautiful! And you'll make a lot of money. Your picture will be in teen magazines... And if you're good enough, you could even end up on the runway in places like Paris."

Prue glanced back at him. What if he were telling the truth? That sounded really amazing. And it was certainly much cooler that anything she'd end up doing otherwise. What did her future look like right now? Grams already said she wasn't going to pay for Prue to go away to school anywhere that wasn't local. Any passion Prue ever felt toward an activity such as cheerleading or photography was seen as just a hobby. What career would she even pursue in her life? Nothing very interesting...

"Can you prove you're not lying?" Prue finally asked, feeling both excited and stupid for even thinking about taking this offer seriously.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure... I mean, I have a business card."

"Show me." She demanded. "And your driver's license."

He chuckled, turning his eyes to that alluring half-moon shape once again as he dug into his pants pocket and produced a wallet. He pulled two cards out of it and held his hand out, waiting for her to approach.

Prue took cautious steps toward him, watching his eyes and posture. He didn't seem to be trying anything... And no one was around. He could have easily just snatched her up if he wanted. Prue was barely over five feet tall. She didn't know how to fight either, and surely this guy could see that.

She reached out and took the cards out of his hand, looking at them carefully. The first was the business card, stating he was a photographer. There was an address and a phone number as well as his name, Nickolas Ash.

The driver's license, complete with his photograph for further evidence displayed the same name. She looked at his birthdate, doing the math in her head to find he was thirty-two. Six-foot one inch. One hundred and ninety-two pounds.

She handed the cards back and narrowed her eyes as she looked him over. He didn't look like a criminal... He had the business card, and the name on it was definitely his. The driver's license proved it.

"I can do a test photoshoot with you today... send the photos to some clothing companies and see if they like any of them. Then we can go from there." Nickolas offered. "You can even bring your mom with you if you'd be more comfortable."

Prue frowned. She didn't have a mom. Only a grandmother who would definitely not let her accept this job. She thought about Grams then... No way would the woman ever endorse this. She'd say Prue was too young, that modeling was dangerous. That she'd be sexualized more than a young teen girl ever should be. Prue felt annoyance and anger just thinking about what her Grams would think of this idea. It made her want to do it even more.

"Okay." Prue finally agreed. "I don't need to bring my mom. We can do it now."

"Very good." Nickolas smiled. "You won't regret it." He turned back toward his car and Prue followed.

She held her breath as she got into the car's passenger seat. This still didn't fully feel like a great idea. Every part of her logical mind told her this was reckless and dumb, but part of her didn't care. What did she have to lose? It wasn't like her life was going great right now anyway.

"I have some cold drinks in the mini-fridge in the back if you want anything." Nickolas offered as he started the car and put it into drive.

Prue laughed, taking that to be a joke. What kind of a car had a fridge in it?

"I'm serious. Do you like pink lemonade?" He asked.

Prue frowned and looked in the back seat of the car. Sure enough, there was indeed a tiny refrigerator, separating the two spots where passengers could sit in the back. She opened it and took out a very cold glass bottle of pink lemonade. It looked so fancy. "There isn't alcohol in this, is there? I'm only sixteen..." She reminded him.

He smiled at her. His eyes almost looked like they were in love. Maybe he always looked like that though. His eyes were so beautiful. He shook his head. "I work with underage models a lot. I wouldn't keep alcohol in here."

She nodded and took the lid off the lemonade, taking a long drink. It was very sweet and cold, extremely refreshing after walking so far from school. If Grams would have let her get a car, she wouldn't be so tired and thirsty now... but then, she probably wouldn't be on her way to be a model either. Maybe Grams being stingy and overly protective was a good thing for once.

Prue exhaled as she leaned back against the seat of the car. She was feeling more exhausted by the second. Hopefully she wouldn't look tired and sweaty in the test photos. She frowned and glanced toward Nickolas. "Will there be a place for me to... you know, like wash my face and brush my hair and everything? I've been at school all day and it's hot out... I doubt I look my best..." She took another drink of the lemonade.

"You look gorgeous, Sweetheart, but yes... As I said, I work with young models a lot. I have everything you'd ever need to look your best." Nickolas assured her.

Prue smiled and closed her eyes. Maybe today was going to be a good day after all.

Nickolas's car seats were very comfortable and the air conditioning was perfect. Cool, but not cold. Often Prue found that summer air conditioning was a gift and a curse. It would feel really refreshing for a minute after coming in from a hot day, and then before you knew it, you were freezing. This wasn't like that. It was cool, but almost cozy at the same time.

In fact, Prue wasn't sure she'd ever felt so relaxed in her life. She almost felt like she was glowing from the inside out.

She flinched as she almost dropped the bottle of lemonade. She gripped it tighter, opening her eyes and pulling herself more upright. Had she almost fallen asleep just then? She looked embarrassed over toward Nickolas, whose eyes were still on the road. Good. He hadn't seen that.

Prue took another drink and blinked her eyes. She felt so tired. Sure, she'd gone to bed late last night and had gotten up early for school, but she did that all the time. She was hardly ever this tired right after school.

"Are we almost there?" She wondered in a voice so soft and exhausted she could barely believe it was her own. Prue swallowed, feeling herself begin to panic. It wasn't normal that she was so tired... She wasn't this tired before she got into the car. She stared down at the bottle of lemonade in her hand. It was half full. What if he'd drugged it?

She looked over at Nickolas, sticking her lip out in a pout and feeling tears stinging at her eyes as he pulled the car over and looked back. "Let me take that for you, Baby." He gently uncurled her fingers from around the bottle.

"Did you put something-" Her voice slurred. "What-" Every word was an uphill battle. "Y-you..." She breathed in and out, trying to force her eyes to stay open.

"Relax, Prue." Nickolas's voice was still deceptively gentle. "Don't be scared. You'll be fine."

Her throat felt tight as tears rolled freely down her cheeks. Grams would have warned her that something like this could happen. She reached weakly toward the door handle, but couldn't pull on it hard enough to do any good. She could barely move.

"Don't cry, Sweetheart. Nobody's gonna hurt you." Nickolas promised as he took her hands in his own, keeping her from reaching toward the door again. It didn't matter though. She could barely lift her arm, let alone pull the door open.

Prue tried to pull her hands away as her head lolled back against the seat. Her mind felt so fuzzy. She couldn't focus. She wasn't even sure she was breathing. She wondered what he had put in the drink. Would it kill her? Probably not. He'd probably do that himself after taking what he wanted from her. Men didn't kidnap teen girls just to kill them...

She let her eye lids fall heavily as she felt his hands let go of hers and the car was put back into drive.

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	2. Chapter 2

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CHAPTER 2

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Prue groaned softly as she blinked her eyes open and tried to piece together in her hazy mind where she was and what had happened.

She felt tired and confused, and the more she thought about it, very scared. The last thing she remembered was trying to hold her eyes open as the man whose car she had gotten into spoke softly to her. She thought he was trying to be comforting, but how could he be when he was the one who had drugged and kidnapped her?

Prue dragged herself up to a sitting position. Her arms shook as she pulled herself up. Was she that exhausted? Or was that a side effect of whatever drug she'd been given? Of course, it could have been from the fact that she was utterly terrified right now.

She looked around herself, trying to figure out where she had been taken and whether or not escape was going to be easy. It seemed she was sitting on a poorly-made bed in what honestly looked like a jail cell. Two of the walls were made of bricks. The other two were vertical bars. The door was closed and probably locked.

Swallowing, Prue looked through the bars separating her cell from a hall of sorts. A man sat there, almost as though he was a guard. It wasn't Nickolas...

Had she been taken to jail? She knew Grams always said to absolutely never get into a car with a stranger, but was it illegal to do so? Surely not... Surely if a policeman did find her, drugged and passed out in a strange man's car, he would have been arrested, not her. This couldn't be an actual jail. That wouldn't make sense.

She stared at the stranger sitting in the hall. He was paying no attention to her. Part of her wanted to ask this man what was going on, but she didn't want to draw attention to herself. Anyone who would guard a jail cell while a kidnapped girl was being held there couldn't have good intentions. So she held as still as she could, hoping her lack of movement would keep him from noticing she was awake, as she silently observed the man.

The guy was looking down at a very old looking book. She couldn't see his face very well, but it definitely wasn't the same man as before. This one looked heavier. Not exactly overweight, but just larger - so much muscle that it looked like sliding his huge arms through the sleeves of the t-shirt he was wearing would have been a chore. His upper arms were thicker than her thighs.

Prue's breath caught in her throat as the guy looked up from his book. His eyes met hers and she felt herself shaking even more than before. A flicker of fear shone in his eyes as well. She wasn't sure she could make any sense of it, but she didn't care. Him being scared for whatever reason was nothing compared to the terror clenching her heart as the two of them stared wordlessly at each other.

"D-do you want water or anything?" The man asked. Despite his huge, hulking size, he still sounded nervous.

Prue swallowed hard and shook her head. Her throat felt dry. She was really thirsty... but the last time she'd accepted a drink from a stranger, it had led to this. She wasn't making that mistake again.

"Are you comfortable?" He asked. "Nick'll be coming back soon..."

Prue frowned. Of course she wasn't comfortable, and she didn't want Nickolas to come back. "Where am I?" She finally demanded.

The man opened his mouth, but closed it again without answering.

"Answer me!" Prue demanded, standing up from the bed and staring with confusion as the man took a step back. Was he scared of her? Why on earth would he be?

"Y-you can ask Nick when he gets back..." He breathed, still staring at her like he expected her to shoot lasers at him with her eyes.

"I'm asking you." She went on, feeling more powerful now. Regardless of the fact that this guy could kill her with one hand tied behind his back, he didn't seem so threatening at the moment. "Let me go." She tried. If he was scared of her for whatever reason, maybe just demanding freedom from him would be enough.

He shook his head.

"What's your name?" Prue asked.

"Um... Otto?" He sounded uncertain.

"Well, Otto..." She took a step forward. "Open this door and let me go. Or else." She glared at him.

"I knew this was a bad idea..." Otto grumbled to himself. "I told Nick I'd have to do this..."

Prue felt her chest grow cold as Otto produced a key from his front shirt pocket and unlocked the cell's door. It couldn't possibly be this easy... She was quickly proven right, unfortunately, when Otto didn't open the door and step aside. Instead, he entered the cell and stepped toward her, raising his hands defensively.

"Don't try anything..." He spoke to her as though she was a dangerous, violent criminal. She noticed him pull handcuffs out of one of his pants pockets.

Prue's mouth fell open and she sucked in a panicked gasp as she took a step back.

"Just stay calm. There's more than me here. Even if you get past me, there's more..." Otto spoke as he closed in on her.

Shaking her head, Prue backed up until she hit the hard wall behind her. She grimaced and breathed in and out shaking breaths. He had left the cell's door open. Maybe she could run past him and escape.

She didn't have long to think about it. He was approaching quickly but cautiously. She needed to take her chance now...

Darting as quickly as she could toward the door, Prue gasped as she felt two giant hands wrap around her upper arms and pull her back, slamming her down onto the mattress of the cell's cheap bed. She whimpered as she felt him jerk her arms roughly back behind her and snap the handcuffs in place around her wrists.

Otto's hand pressed hard against the back of her head as his other hand held one of her wrists in a bruising grip. He was practically sitting on her legs to help hold her down too.

"Please stop!" Prue sobbed as she squeezed her eyes shut. His weight on her thighs and hands on her arm and head were hurting her. He was so strong, and so heavy. This had turned around so fast...

"Don't try anything." He warned again in a growling voice as he released his grip on her arm and reached for the pillow on the bed.

"I won't!" Prue gasped breathlessly. "I won't do anything... I- I promise! Please stop! You're hurting me! Please!"

"I don't mean to hurt you, but you're acting erratic." Otto went on, one-handedly wrestling the pillow case off of the pillow near her head.

"What?" Prue asked in a shaking voice. How the hell was she the one acting erratic here?

He pulled the pillow case free and slid it over her head before yanking her up off the mattress and dragging her across the cell.

"What are you going to do?" Prue whimpered. She couldn't see anymore.

"Gonna make sure you stay still and that you don't fucking try anything." Otto sounded much less frightened now. He just sounded mean.

Prue bit back a sob as she felt him lower her less than gently to the floor, shoving her toward the wall of bars and holding her in place there with a large hand against her collar. As if she was going to try to fight back or run off at this point... She couldn't even see.

She felt him wrapping something that felt like a bed sheet around her chest and behind her, obviously tethering her to the cell bars. He wrapped it around and around her several times so that she was tied firmly in place against the bars. He had even wrapped the sheet once around her neck, so that she could barely move at all. Now that the pillow case didn't have much of an air supply coming to it, Prue was starting to feel even more panicked. She could barely breathe.

She yanked her legs away as she felt Otto's hand on her thigh. "Don't touch me!" She screamed.

"I'm fixing your dress." He growled, grabbing her legs with hard hands and pulling them back down against the floor. She felt his fingers grip the material of her skirt, which had ridden up during their struggle.

She felt her lip tremble as his hands remained on her skirt longer than she felt was necessary to smooth it down. She felt his thumbs rubbing the dress's material over her thighs.

"Let go!" She screamed even more frantically and pulled her legs up again, drawing them close against her chest.

Otto laughed. "Not so powerful now, are you?" He mocked, grabbing her legs again and pinning them down with his massive weight.

Prue choked out another sob as she felt his hands on her thighs again, directly on her skin. She never had been powerful... He was just acting scared for whatever reason and she'd run with it. It wasn't her fault the guy made no sense.

"Get your hands off of me!" Prue screamed, her voice hoarse as she screamed as loud as possible. "Help me! Somebody! Please!"

"Shut up." Otto growled, moving one hand up to her throat and squeezing threateningly.

Prue choked under his hand as she felt the fingers of his other hand still on her leg rubbing slowly back and forth. "I-" Prue stammered "Can't... breathe..." Tears flowed down her cheeks as she tugged uselessly at her bound wrists.

"Then stop screaming." Otto whispered as he leaned his face very close to hers, but let go of her throat, running his hand down her chest and back toward her thigh.

Prue could only shake in fear as more sobs wracked her body. She knew Otto wanted her to be quiet, but this wasn't something she could help. She couldn't understand what was happening. One man, charming and deceptive had taken her... and now she was in a jail cell, tied up with an entirely different man hurting her. Why had the first man brought her here?

"Otto!" An angry voice boomed from somewhere behind her. She felt the man's hand move off of her bare thigh and quickly up to the material of her dress. He tugged it down and rested his hands on top of her now-covered legs.

"Nick..." Otto sounded nervous again. "She was being hostile..."

"She's a sixteen year old girl!" Nickolas's voice growled as Prue heard his footsteps moving toward the cell. "Otto, you fool... You're practically strangling her with this... What are you thinking?" She felt more gentle hands untangling the sheet from around her neck and reaching for the pillowcase covering her face.

"Nick! Don't take that off. She's gonna-"

"She doesn't have her powers, you moron!" Nickolas's voice growled. "How many times need I say it? Get out of here. I'll take her from here."

"You don't know that..." Otto sounded uncertain. "It could be a trap..."

"If she had powers, I'm sure she would have used them on you while you were attacking her." Nickolas exhaled tiredly. "Go, Otto. Now."

Prue felt herself shaking as she heard the larger man leave. She felt Nickolas slide the pillowcase up over her head. As he worked on untangling the sheet Otto had wrapped securely around her chest, Prue stared into his eyes, the same charming, gentle eyes as before... but she wasn't fooled this time.

"Sorry about that." Nickolas exhaled tiredly as he reached around her and put his hand on her wrists... He closed his eyes and breathed out again. "I'll have to call Otto back... He must have the key-"

"No!" Prue blurted. "Don't call him back..." She added in a tiny voice.

"Honey, your hands are handcuffed behind you... You're going to have to stay that way until I get the key from him." Nickolas offered a sympathetic smile.

"Th-then go get it..." Prue suggested. "Don't let him come back in here... Please..."

Nickolas stared down at her and frowned. She held her breath as he moved his hand up toward her face and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. "I'm sorry if he hurt you, Prue. That wasn't part of the plan." He told her.

Prue swallowed nervously. "The plan?"

With a sigh, Nickolas shook his head. "Let me go get that key and then we'll talk..."

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	3. Chapter 3

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CHAPTER 3

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After Nickolas had unlocked her hands, he led Prue into a space that looked almost like a living room someone would have in their home. Aside from the place having no windows, it would have felt comfortable... of course, if she hadn't been kidnapped and forced to be there.

Prue had been guided to an over-sized chair and Nickolas had offered her a bottle of water and sat himself down far enough away that she didn't feel entirely frightened that he was going to try anything.

Holding the bottle of water in her hands, Prue stared down at it. The lid seemed sealed... and it wasn't like drugging her further even made sense at this point. Even so, she couldn't forget the last drink Nickolas had given her. She couldn't bring herself to trust this. She was so thirsty though.

"Otto can be kind of paranoid..." Nickolas offered a nervous laugh after a very long and increasingly awkward silence.

Prue swallowed and continued staring down at the bottle of water. Her throat felt so dry.

"Did he hurt you?" Nickolas asked.

Prue continued staring down, contemplating ignoring this guy's questions all together. What did he care? If he knew Otto was nuts, why had he left her with him?

"Sweetheart, you need to answer me... I'm on your side here. I want to protect you from anything that might harm you. I can't do that if you won't tell me what happened." His voice sounded slightly annoyed, yet still smooth and calm.

Prue glared up at him. How dare he? The man kidnapped and drugged her, and now he wanted to act like he cared? "Yes. He did hurt me." Prue's voice almost growled. She was really mad right now. Nickolas was a jerk. He'd tricked her, and then left her with a crazy man. How could he claim to want to keep her safe? Keeping her safe would have been as easy as not kidnapping her in the first place.

"Anything significant?" Nickolas asked with raised eyebrows.

Prue stared angrily across the small space at him. The whole thing was significant. Neither of these men had any right to even talk to her, let alone grab or grope her. She shouldn't have even been here right now. "He grabbed me and threw me down onto a bed. He tied my arms behind me and nearly suffocated me with a pillowcase. Then he tied me to jail cell bars and choked me while he put his hands on my legs. Yeah. It was significant." She felt tears in her eyes as she explained, knowing Nickolas probably wouldn't care, fearing he might have the same violent, lustful thoughts his friend had.

Nickolas nodded slowly. "He was definitely a little more rough than he needed to be. I'm sorry for that. I've talked to him. He won't do it again."

"How do you know?" Prue asked.

"Because I've talked to him." Nickolas spoke in slow, measured words. "He didn't mean to scare or hurt you. He just got paranoid that you'd try something. He panicked."

"He panicked?" Prue scoffed. "I was the one tied up! I was the one who could barely breathe! I was panicking! When he had his hands all over me!"

"He told me he was trying to fix your dress. You have to consider that he really might have been. He doesn't like things messy or unkempt. He told me your dress had ridden up pretty far during the struggle and he was trying to smooth it back over your legs." Nickolas explained.

"No he wasn't." Prue felt tears in her eyes. She didn't know why she expected Nickolas to be on her side of this. "He said he was, but his hands stayed there too long. That's not what he was doing..." She whispered.

"Okay..." Nickolas nodded. "He knows that upset you too, and he's not going to do that again either."

Prue shook her head and looked away. This discussion wasn't constructive. She shouldn't have answered Nickolas. He was trying to play the good guy, but not hard enough. He was still defending Otto. She should have known Nickolas wasn't going to come to her rescue and condemn what the other man had done. Why would he? Nickolas was the one who had taken her in the first place. Why did she expect him to protect her from the other man?

"Alright, Sweetheart... Let's get to the point... There's a reason you're here, and now's as good a time as any to explain it..." Nickolas went on. "This is going to sound absolutely impossible to you, Prue... But try to hear me out."

She raised her eyes from the water and stared at him with a frown. How did he know her name? Had he been following her for a long time before today? He'd used her name back in the car too...

"You may have heard Otto and me discussing 'powers' back there." Nickolas spoke. Prue stared at him. She had heard that. It didn't make sense. She just figured Otto was crazy and Nickolas was reassuring the other man that Prue didn't have any powers... whatever that meant. "Well... It seems this has been kept a secret from you by your family..." He licked his lips and paused, as though almost nervous about explaining further.

"What?" Prue finally asked.

"Honey, you're a witch." Nickolas told her.

Prue rolled her eyes. "And you're an asshole." She scoffed. "You dragged me all the way here just to call me names?"

"No... Prue, you don't understand. You're a witch, with magic powers." Nickolas explained.

"Oh my god..." Prue leaned her head back and closed her eyes with a tired exhale. "And I thought I was stupid for believing the modeling story..." She looked back at him with slumped shoulders. "Can I please just go home?"

Nickolas shook his head. "I'm trying to explain this to you, Dear. You need to listen to me. It's important."

Prue stared at him. He sounded and looked so serious... but surely he didn't expect her to believe this... Why did he want her to? He'd already gotten her here. The story of him being a professional photographer was actually believable, and he'd taken her already. Why make up this insane, impossible second story?

"You were born with magical powers. Your family stripped them from you when you were a child." Nickolas explained. "My friends and I hope to give them back to you, but you'll need to respect that they come with rules."

Prue continued staring silently. Was this guy legitimately insane? What was she supposed to say?

"We'll start off slow... Giving you access to a weaker version of your powers... One which I can easily reverse if you misuse it. Just until you get a handle on it, and until I know I can trust you." Nickolas explained.

Prue felt tears filling her eyes again as he chest started to grow tight. What if this guy really did think she was magical? What would he do when he found out she wasn't? He clearly expected that she was going to perform some kind of power, but that was ridiculous. Magic powers didn't exist. There was no way she wasn't going to disappoint him... And what would a crazy lunatic who believed in magic do in the case of disappointment? When she couldn't do what he expected, would he kill her? Keep her around forever, hoping she'd figure it out?

"Don't cry, Sweetheart. Nothing bad will happen to you. You're about to become very powerful... and with power, comes all sorts of luxury. Your family may have had rules you needed to follow. We don't. Beyond not using your powers against us, you can use them however you want. As long as you don't draw unnecessary attention." Nickolas went on. "Would you like me to unbind your powers?"

Prue bit her lower lip and shrunk down in her seat. She shook her head and sniffed back tears. "I don't know what you want me to say..."

"Say yes. Say you'd like your powers back." Nickolas told her.

"What will you do if I can't do whatever magic you're expecting?" Prue wondered in a small voice.

"You'll be able to." Nickolas assured her.

She shook her head again. "Magic isn't real, Nickolas... I don't know why you think I'm a witch and that I have powers, but I'm not and I don't..."

Nickolas offered a smile complete with raised eyebrows, as he raised one hand, palm-up, and swirled his fingers slightly. All of a sudden a glowing blue-grey ball formed above his hand. It didn't look quite solid - almost like a huge, spherical electric spark.

Prue felt her mouth drop open slightly as she stared at it. It was almost as mesmerizing as his deep blue eyes. "W-what is that?" She whispered.

"You're not the only one with powers, Sweetheart." Nickolas explained. "This is one of mine. It's an energy ball. I can conjure them for show... like now... or I can throw them and cause damage."

Prue swallowed and stared at the glowing orb, trying to see how it could possibly be some kind of an illusion or trick.

Nickolas swirled his fingers again and closed his hand. The blue ball of energy disappeared.

Prue still wasn't sure she believed him. "What else can you do?" She asked.

Nickolas smirked. Out of nowhere, he seemed to fade away, only to appear right in front of her.

Prue gasped and shrunk back against the chair.

"I can track people too... and other things." Nickolas explained, taking a small step back so that he wasn't towering threateningly over her anymore.

He waved his hand in front of her and stared intently into her eyes. Prue felt almost like she'd just taken in a breath of the cleanest, purest air in the world. Had he just done something? Or was she being crazy to even consider that him waving his hand in front of her face could have possibly done anything... He did just... teleport right in front of her...

"And I can bind and unbind powers..." Nickolas went on. "As long as they aren't significant... Though yours will be as you grow. It helps that you're still a child. Your powers haven't completely matured yet, and since you haven't been using them, they're still weak. I think we can help you hone them though."

She stared at him silently. She wasn't sure what to do next.

"Go on. See if you can get them to work." Nickolas suggested.

Prue swallowed nervously and shook her head. "I don't..." She wasn't sure what he wanted her to do. For one, she didn't believe magic was real... Even with Nickolas's demonstration. In addition to that, if she did have a magic power, she couldn't possibly know what it was or how to use it.

"Come on, Prue." Nickolas nodded, still staring at her as though expecting something to happen.

Prue frowned. She supposed Nickolas wasn't going to give this up until she at least pretended to try to use these powers he spoke of. "W-what do I do?" She asked timidly.

Nickolas licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. "I believe your powers work one of two ways. We're focusing on telekinesis at the moment. You can move objects with your mind. Either focus your eyes on the object and move it that way, or point or gesture with your hands."

Prue tried to sink further into the chair as she let out a small, nervous, breathless laugh. "This is crazy..." She breathed. "Magic isn't real... I can't do this..."

"It's very real, Darling. I just showed you two of my powers. You saw it with your own eyes. Now show me yours." Nickolas nodded gently and took another step back.

Prue looked around the room, trying to find an object to test this power on. A large part of her didn't think this was going to work. A tiny part of her recognized that Nickolas had indeed shown her what looked unmistakably like magic... Two different times. What else could that have been? He seemed to dissolve and then re-appear in a different place. How could he fake that?

She spotted a book shelf and stared at the book on the end. Nothing happened. She stared harder, focusing as much as she possibly could. It just wasn't working... and of course it wasn't... Magic was just a story. Nickolas's powers had to have been a trick. Maybe the drug he'd given her to make her fall asleep before was causing her to hallucinate now.

"Keep trying." Nickolas encouraged. "Try using your hands."

"How?" Prue scoffed, looking at the book and moving her hand in front of her as though swatting it away. She looked back at Nickolas and shrugged. "Are you trying to make me look stupid?"

"Not at all, Prue." He frowned. "This might take some time. You haven't used your powers in a long time and you've forgotten how. You'll get the hang of it. Try harder."

Prue exhaled and felt her shoulders slump. How long did he expect her to do this? To try to move a book from across the room... This was dumb. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the book again and then looked back at him, shaking her head. "I can't. I don't have powers... Sorry."

"You're destined to be a very powerful witch. You can do this." Nickolas encouraged her, seeming to be slowly losing patience. "You don't act powerful... but you will be. You have to believe in yourself. True power doesn't come to those determined to remain weak."

Prue frowned and stared back at the book, squinting and glaring. It just wasn't going to work... She was a normal teenaged girl. Not some kind of magician or witch or sorceress or anything else imaginary and impossible.

"Try harder, Prue." Nickolas growled.

"I am!" She insisted.

"What are you trying to move? That book shelf?" Nickolas asked, nodding toward the books.

"Just the book on the end... But it won't work. I can't do it..." Prue sounded out of breath now, mostly because she was beginning to panic. This was exactly what she was afraid of - that this crazy guy would get mad when she didn't actually end up having magic powers after all.

"That one?" Nickolas conjured up a small ball of energy into his hand and threw it at the shelf, causing the book to explode in a burst of blue sparks and ashes.

Prue gasped and stared at Nickolas.

"Try the next one." He demanded.

"I can't!" She screamed back.

"Channel your anger, your fear..." Nickolas suggested.

Prue shook her head and shrunk down into the large chair. She felt herself shaking again. "I don't have powers, Nickloas. I can't do it!" She sobbed. "I know you think I do, but I don't!"

Nickolas exhaled tiredly and stepped toward her. He looked really mad. His hands were balled into fists as he glared down at her. He looked like he wanted to hit her.

"I tried... I just..." Prue stammered.

With a roll of his blue eyes, Nickolas shook his head and reached out toward her, grabbing her arms and yanking her roughly up to her feet.

Prue gasped softly and grimaced, squeezing her eyes shut and shrinking down under his hard grip. "Please don't hurt me..." She begged.

"I won't. You're going back in the cell." Nickolas told her. "We'll try again later. You're going to get the hang of this. Remember, when you do, you've got to know when to stop, and where to use it. If you ever use any of your powers against me or against Jack... Things won't go well for you."

"Who's Jack?" Prue whispered as she tried to keep up with his large stride as he dragged her back down to the cell.

"You'll meet him later. He's more powerful than I am." Nickolas told her. "Quicker to anger too, so you'll want to be careful around him... But he's important."

Prue swallowed as Nickolas led her back to the cell and shoved her inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She immediately moved back to the bars and gripped her fingers around two of them as Nickolas turned away. "Wait!" She called back to him in a shaking voice.

He looked over his shoulder at her, raising his eyebrow in curiosity, but not moving to open the door back up.

"Please don't leave me down here..." She begged. "I didn't do anything wrong... I don't have magic powers, okay? You can't keep me here waiting for me to turn into a witch. It's not going to happen." She inhaled a shaking breath as he remained silent. "Please just let me go..." She asked.

"I can't do that." Nickolas shook his head.

"How long do I have to stay here?" She pouted.

"Until you learn your powers, and at which point we all know you know how and when to use them. When you know what you're doing and we know we can trust you, you'll be free to walk among the rest of us. We just have to be sure." Nickolas told her.

"You're never gonna let me leave?" Prue whispered. "Assuming I magically start having powers... You're still going to make me stay here?"

Nickolas nodded. "You'll want to stay though. We'll teach you how to use your powers right."

Prue frowned as she watched him leave.

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	4. Chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4

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Nickolas had only been gone for a few minutes, a few minutes of Prue listening nervously to low voices coming from somewhere upstairs. She couldn't understand what either voice was saying. She just knew there were definitely at least two people talking up there.

Then all of a sudden both voices went quiet and were replaced with the sound of someone coming down the stairs. She frowned when she saw who it was... It was the man from before, Otto.

Prue swallowed nervously and stared at him, hoping he was still scared of her like before. He must have thought she had magic powers too. That's why he had bound her hands and covered her eyes. Nickolas seemed to think she controlled her powers with her eyes or hands. Otto must have believed the same thing. Hopefully he wouldn't tie her up again.

"So I hear you don't have powers after all." Otto smirked as he walked up to the wall of bars.

Prue took a step back, but remained silent as she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"You have a nice chat with Nick?" Otto asked as he casually unlocked the cell. He closed the door behind him, re-locked it, and put the key in his front pocket. Was that his way of making sure Nickolas couldn't get in here to stop him from whatever he was about to do?

Prue swallowed and stepped back. She couldn't bring herself to speak.

"So... Are your powers just not working, or are you not really a witch?" Otto wondered as he backed her further into a corner.

Prue opened her mouth to say something, but wasn't sure what to say. Nickolas had displayed what could hardly have been anything but magic powers... He'd mentioned the others having powers too. She wondered what powers Otto had... or if she was hallucinating all of this.

Otto smirked. "I can't believe I was afraid of you..."

Prue felt her lower lip tremble and her brow furrow with worry as he stepped even closer, finally backing her up against the wall.

She gasped audibly and may have even screamed as his hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She could have sworn he laughed as he dragged her over to the flimsy jail bed... but she could barely hear anything over her own heartbeat pounding in her ears, which was pretty well drowned out by the sound of her screaming.

"Nickolas!" She sobbed as she shoved uselessly against Otto's chest and tried to squirm out from under him. "Help me!"

Otto laughed again, pinning her wrists above her head with one of his large hands. His legs were on hers, holding her down even further as he grabbed her chin with his free hand, forcing her to look up into his hungry eyes. "He's not going to save you, girl."

She turned her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut as soon as he let go of her face. She whimpered as his hand ran down over her neck, stopping at her breast and squeezing. "Get off of me!" She sobbed. "Nickolas, help! Please! He's hurting me!" She screamed.

"He told me to do this, girly." Otto chuckled.

"What?" She turned her head back and stared up into the man's eyes. She supposed that shouldn't have surprised her though. She'd told Nickolas that Otto had been inappropriate, and Nickolas had just made excuses for the other man.

"Nick said I could do whatever I wanted with you." Otto shrugged, running his huge hand down over her stomach, across her hip bone, and down her thigh toward the hem of her short dress.

Prue heard herself choke out a strange, frightened, shaking sound as she tugged at her wrists, trying to free even just one. She felt one of Otto's hands squeeze her wrists tighter while the other pushed her skirt up over her thigh.

"Stop!" She screamed, looking desperately around the room as she tried to thrash under the man's great weight. She couldn't move. The bed springs squeaked as he crushed her down against the mattress. His bulky body on top of her was so heavy. She felt like her legs might break under his, like his cruel grip around her arms might break them too.

"Shhh." Otto whispered, pushing his hand up her inner thigh. "It won't hurt, sweet little thing."

Prue swallowed, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again. Something told her she should keep them open... like it might help for some reason. She looked all around herself again, searching for anything that might save her. Not like she could reach anything anyway with his giant, bruising hand smashing her wrists together above her head...

She noticed Otto wore what looked like an army dog-tag around his neck. She wished she could grab it and pull it tight around his throat, strangle him until he let go of her... But she couldn't. Her hands were very trapped, and Otto was much too strong for that to have been a possibility even if she weren't held down.

Prue tried to pull her legs closer together as she felt Otto's rough fingers inching higher and higher. His legs crushing hers down were just too strong. She couldn't move.

"Get off of me. Right now." Prue growled, staring intently up at Otto's face. She wanted to sound threatening, but she knew she had no real way of hurting the man back. She had nothing at all to bargain with. She couldn't even promise not to call the cops. They would probably kill her before letting her have that chance.

"Just hold still." Otto suggested, letting his fingers run over the trim of her underwear.

Prue gritted her teeth and squeezed her hands into fists as she scowled up at him. "Get off of me!" She screamed again, the most angry, loudest scream she'd ever heard from her own mouth. "Get the fuck off of me!" She shrieked again, trying to thrash her body as she stared in fury at the chain around his neck. She wanted to strangle him with it so bad.

Otto just laughed and started to slide two of his fingers under her panties.

"Stop!" Prue screamed, and suddenly... he did. He let go of her wrists and moved his other hand away from her all at once.

Prue inhaled shaking breaths as she stared up at him with wide eyes. He was frantically clawing at his own throat, making choking noises as he climbed partway off of her.

Prue tried to pull her legs out from under him, but he still sat on them. Her hands were free, but she was still trapped. "Get off of me, you sick fuck!" She growled in a trembling voice, shoving at him as he continued grasping desperately at his throat. She didn't understand what was wrong with him, but she could hardly care. He had stopped attacking her. That was all that mattered.

Finally, Otto got a hold of his necklace and tore it off of himself, literally breaking the chain in half with his fist and throwing it angrily across the cell as he sucked in rather pained-sounding breaths. "You did that!" He accused, staring down at Prue with rage in his eyes.

Prue furrowed her brow. What the hell was he talking about? She shoved against his legs again, pulling desperately at her own and managing to almost free one of them.

"You little fucking witch!" He growled, backhanding her across the face so that she fell rather hard back against the mattress.

With a whimper, Prue put her hand against her cheek. It stung where he had hit her. Her eyes stung with tears too. "Please get off of me!" She sobbed.

"You lying little fucking witch!" Otto went on, grabbing at her wrists again and holding them down, seemingly only so he could hit her again without her hand guarding her face.

Prue gasped in pain and squeezed her eyes shut as she felt his hand slam against the side of her face. "Stop!" She begged.

"I should have covered your face again. I was right." Otto growled, reaching toward the pillow as he had before and shaking it out of its pillow case. Someone must have put it back after last time.

Prue shook with fear as she watched him bring the pillow case toward her face. She didn't want that on her. She didn't want to not be able to see.

Suddenly, the pillow case flew out of the man's hand.

Prue gasped and looked across the cell where it had landed. Otto hadn't thrown it. It was ripped very clearly from his hand. Had she done that? Was Nickolas right about her being a witch?

She glared at Otto again. "You better get off me." She demanded.

"Or what?" Otto growled.

Prue glared at him, narrowing her eyes and hoping staring hard enough would move him off of her.

She heard a low growl in Otto's throat as he shifted his weight just enough to quickly flip her onto her stomach. She felt his hand push against the back of her head, holding her firmly down as he let his other hand push itself up under her skirt.

"I was gonna just use my fingers and be careful with you, witch." Otto's voice dripped with anger and lust. "I really was going to go easy on you... but not anymore. I can't honestly tell you it won't hurt this time. This is probably gonna make you fucking bleed."

Prue choked out a pained, panicked sob as she let her eyes scan the room. They fell on the necklace Otto had tossed across the cell earlier. She stared at it as she felt Otto grip the material of her panties under her dress. He began to tug the garment down just as Prue, still focused on Otto's necklace, saw the chain fly up off the floor.

She heard Otto choking again as he released his hold on her. This time, she was able to squirm out from under him. She scrambled off the mattress, staring at him as she backed herself up against the barred wall. She continued glaring angrily as the chain wrapped itself several times around Otto's thick neck.

She glared and glared as the chain squeezed tighter. Otto's fearful eyes met hers. He seemed to try to say something, but with no oxygen reaching his lungs and his throat closing, he couldn't speak.

"Prudence!" Nickolas's voice called out. She heard his feet running down the stairs. Prue continued to stare at Otto, focusing intently on the necklace still squeezing his throat closed.

"Prudence! Ease up!" Nickolas demanded, appearing next to her in the cell and putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Prue growled, shrugging her shoulder away from his grip, but still staring at Otto. She didn't want to lose focus. She'd finally gotten a handle on this. It wasn't going to waste now.

"Prudence, stop!" Nickolas's voice was stern. "You're going to get hurt like this."

"I already am." Prue spoke in a low voice, breathing through clenched teeth as she scowled at Otto and the chain tightening around his neck. She could feel herself shaking. She wasn't sure she'd ever been this angry ever in her life. Prue wasn't ordinarily one to seek revenge, but this time, she wanted Otto dead.

Nickolas sighed, whispered something under his breath, and waved his hand in front of her face.

All of a sudden the necklace around Otto's neck loosened. He gasped for air for a moment while Prue stared at the chain on the floor where it had landed, trying to will it back up to his throat.

"It's going to take a long time for you to earn enough trust to have that power back, Prudence." Nickolas sounded disappointed.

Prue's breaths were frantic as she looked from Nickolas to Otto. She didn't regret what she had done. Otto deserved it. The large man must not have felt the same, however. It only took him a few moments of deep breathing to recover enough to turn toward her.

Prue gasped and shrunk down as she saw Otto conjure up an energy ball similar to the ones Nickolas used. Otto's looked to be made of fire.

"Otto, no!" Nickolas yelled, moving his arm out in front of Prue and stepping between her and him.

"The little bitch tried to kill me." Otto growled, holding the flaming ball threateningly in his hand.

"You were attacking her." Nickolas spoke, still sounding impossibly calm.

"You told me to!" Otto insisted.

Nickolas shook his head and frowned. "I did not tell you that."

"You said, 'do whatever you want.'" Otto inhaled and exhaled loudly.

"I wanted you to scare her, you fool." Nickolas shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "She was having trouble conjuring her powers. I thought fear would do it... but you took it way too far."

"She took it too far!" Otto exclaimed. "I was scaring her! Like you wanted! And she nearly killed me! You saw her just now... I wasn't even anywhere near her, and she kept going. She was going to strangle me to fucking death!"

"You were trying to rape me!" Prue screamed. Her voice shook with tears, but she was still really angry too.

"Barely." Otto growled, rubbing the spot on his throat where the chain had cut into his skin.

"How do you barely rape somebody?" Prue choked through her tears.

"It was a misunderstanding. I wanted him to scare you into using your powers, Prue. I didn't count on him being that scary..." Nickolas compromised. "You can leave now, Otto."

"It was not a misunderstanding!" Prue cut in. "What exactly did you think he was going to do?"

Nickolas shook his head. "We'll discuss it, Prudence. First, Otto, go upstairs. Leave us. You are not to hurt her again. Do you understand?" He added.

Otto glared at him, and then around his shoulder at Prue, who ducked further behind Nickolas.

"Do you understand?" Nickolas spoke louder. "She's valuable, Otto. If you kill her, you're killing yourself too. I'll make sure of that. So don't even think about it."

"Fine." Otto finally agreed and stepped out of the cell.

Nickolas rolled his eyes and shook his head as he turned back toward Prue.

"I'm sorry for what he did, Prue. He was only doing what he thought I wanted him to do." Nickolas insisted. "I wanted him to scare you into using your powers."

Prue shook her head. "He didn't seem to think I had any... and he seemed really mad when I used them. He wasn't on the same page as you."

"Why?" Nickolas looked down at her with a frown. "What exactly happened?"

"He attacked me!" Prue told him, her voice shaking. "He said something about me not having powers and he grabbed me and tried to take off my clothes. When I finally got my power to work, he hit me and tried to take my clothes off again. He told me exactly what he was going to do, and he tried to do it, and he would have if I didn't get my power to work. He wasn't just trying to scare me. He was really going to do it..." Tears welled up in her eyes and she felt her lower lip trembling.

Nickolas exhaled and frowned. "Okay... I understand. I should have come down here sooner. I told him to do whatever he wanted, as I said... I just didn't know he truly wanted that. I thought he'd just tease you... Scare you enough, but not that much."

Prue bit her lip as she tried to hold in her tears.

"You'll stay with me from now on. You won't be left alone with him again." Nickolas promised, putting a hand lightly on her shoulder.

Prue shrunk away from his touch. "I don't want to stay with you!" Her voice trembled. How could she be sure Nickolas wasn't just like Otto? She didn't trust him. He could hurt her if he wanted to, especially if she made the mistake of trusting him.

"My chambers has a guest bedroom attached. It's fairly private. You can stay there. I'll see to it that no one bothers you while we work on managing your powers." Nickolas explained.

Prue swallowed and blinked back tears. She was so scared. She could picture this guy playing nice just long enough... Protecting her to the extent that he felt she owed him... And what more did she have to offer besides what Otto had just tried to take? Why on earth would Nickolas want her here? Her power wasn't that significant when Nickolas and his friends could teleport and produce destructive balls of fire and energy out of thin air. It's not like they needed her just for that.

"Listen, Sweetheart. I see you're frightened, and I understand that." Nickolas touched her shoulder again. "Your life is going to be different now, but in a good way. You'll grow powerful, loved, and feared. You'll have anything and everything you want. I promise you'll be very happy once you get the hang of this."

"Please just let me go home!" Prue felt her shoulders shaking as tears spilled down her cheeks. She hid her face in her hands and shrunk down. "All I want is to go home. I don't need powers. I just want to go back home..."

"Come on." Nickolas spoke in a gentle voice, placing his hand on her back. "This may feel unusual." He noted.

"What?" Prue whispered, looking up from behind her hands in time to see the jail cell dissolve in front of her. It was replaced in an instant with an entirely different room.

Prue gasped and wobbled on her feet. She felt like she could collapse onto the floor below her.

"You'll get used to that." Nickolas told her, gripping her hand with his own. His other hand held onto her arm near her elbow.

"Where are we?" Prue asked, looking around the room. She didn't see any windows, and the only doors led into other rooms. There didn't seem to be a way out of this place... No way besides Nickolas's teleportation ability... but that didn't help Prue much.

"This is where I live. The location doesn't matter. Let me show you to your room." He held onto her hand and led her toward one of the doors.

Without even meaning to, Prue squeezed his hand with hers. She swallowed nervously, looking around the room with wide eyes.

"You've got a bed, dresser, desk." Nickolas gestured around the small guest room. "Your own bathroom... We can get you some clothing, books... whatever else you enjoy..."

Prue looked down at her feet. She couldn't imagine enjoying herself while behind held against her will in a strange house with no windows... with the constant threat of being hurt or abused in some way or another.

"Are we close to my house?" Prue looked up at him.

Nickolas shook his head. "Not at all. We're very far. Far enough that you'll eventually be allowed outside with virtually no risk of anyone recognizing you."

"What state are we in?" Prue asked.

Nickolas shook his head again, but didn't answer. He guided her gently toward the bed, pushing her down onto the mattress so that she was sitting facing him as he bent down in front of her.

Prue held her breath. She felt herself shaking again.

"Don't be scared." Nickolas spoke, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. Prue stared up at him. She was afraid not to, even though she knew if Nickolas wanted to try anything, there'd be nothing to stop him. "Is this where Otto hit you?" His fingers ran lightly over her cheek.

"Yeah." Prue whispered.

"Are you hurt anywhere else? Jack has healing powers... though I'd rather not take you to him unless it's absolutely necessary." Nickolas went on.

Prue felt her eyes widen. She shook her head no.

"Alright. Get some sleep. We'll work on your powers a bit more tomorrow." Nickolas stood up straight and put his fingers under her chin, tilting her head so he could see her face. "You're going to be great, Prudence." He smiled, producing the same charming, half-moon eyes she had fallen for before.

Prue frowned and looked down at her lap as he exited the room. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she doubted she was going to be sleeping any time soon.

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	5. Chapter 5

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CHAPTER 5

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Prue didn't wait long after Nickolas left before she began searching the room for anything that might help her. Mostly, she was searching for a phone, a weapon, or some kind of secret passage that would lead her out of here. Of course, all three of those options were unlikely... but she kept hope alive and looked anyway.

On the night stand was a large bottle of water. She really wanted to drink it. She had been here for hours now. Her mouth and throat felt so dry. But she didn't trust it.

She shook her head and looked away from the water. She decided to search the dresser first. She frowned as she opened the top drawer and peered inside. It contained bras, socks, and underwear. About a dozen of each, in different colors and styles.

Prue lifted up a basic black sports bra, then some plain cotton panties. They both looked to be her size. She picked up another pair of panties that were lacy and almost see through. Prue clenched her hand into a fist and threw the underwear down. Nickolas better not have expected her to wear any of this. She was going to keep on the exact thing she wore right now. Nothing else. Not even the plain, boring, non-sexy stuff. She didn't want to be here and wasn't about to pretend like this was her new home.

She closed the drawer and opened the next one, exhaling tiredly. This one had pajamas in it. She looked at the tag on one of the garments. They were her size too.

Shaking her head, Prue closed the drawer and abandoned the dresser. She went to the night stand, opening the drawer. It contained a pad of paper and a pencil. She supposed the pencil could be a weapon... but Nickolas was able to materialize energy balls out of thin air. Could a pencil really stop him from doing something if he really wanted to do it?

Keeping the idea of the pencil in the back of her mind, Prue moved on, searching the desk, which had a bookshelf built into the side of it. That was filled with books, some of which she'd already read - mostly ones assigned in her high school English classes. She opened the drawer on the desk next. Empty...

Prue bit her lip and looked around the room. Her eyes settled on the door to the bathroom.

She made her way into the small room. It was brightly colored, unlike the rest of this strange living space. She walked over to the sink, turning it on and leaning her face down toward the water, smelling to see if it seemed safe to drink. Maybe Nickolas poisoned the bottle of water, but he couldn't have poisoned this too.

Cupping her hands, she filled them with water and took a drink, then another. She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and turned the water off before searching the rest of the room.

The longer she looked around, the worse she felt. What could she possibly hope to find? A disposable razor? Something heavy enough to hit her kidnapper with? The guy had magic powers... She was doomed.

Prue closed her eyes and exhaled, trying to keep herself calm. Maybe she should just try to sneak out of the room. There had to be an exit, somewhere, even if she hadn't seen it.

She opened her eyes, inhaled a deep breath, and walked slowly toward the room's door, opening it just a crack.

"You doing okay, Sweetheart?" Nickolas asked immediately.

Prue gasped and closed the door, hoping he wouldn't come back and try to talk to her any more than he already had.

She opened the door again, but so slowly and minimally that he couldn't have noticed. She peered through the tiny crack. There were no visible doors. Was his weird teleportation power really the only way in and out of here?

Suddenly a shadow passed over the thin line of light between the door and its frame. Prue stumbled backward as Nickolas opened the door.

"You can come out if you want." He offered.

Prue shook her head.

"You sure? I can cook something for you." Nickolas offered.

Prue shook her head again.

Nickolas sighed. "Alright, Prue... We clearly got off on the wrong foot. Come out here. Let's talk."

Prue swallowed nervously, but let Nickolas put his hand on her back and lead her out into the main room. He sat her down at a table, poured her a glass of water and nodded toward a bowl of fruit in the middle of the table.

Prue stared back, not daring to touch either the water or the fruit.

"This might sound like a lot of information to absorb, but I'm just going to let it out..." Nickolas started. "You've got powers, as I've told you and as you've demonstrated. While they are still weak, I have the power to bind and unbind them. They're bound now, because you proved yourself to be a bit unpredictable already... That's not necessarily bad... We don't want to control how you use your powers to get what you want or need in life, but you can't use them against us. Like it or not, Otto's on our side. He uses his powers to work toward our similar goals at least."

"Are your similar goals sexually assaulting people?" Prue glared.

Nickolas frowned. "Of course not. I've apologized for his actions, Prue, and I've separated you from him. That's the best I can do."

Prue crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair, still glaring.

"We're not the only people with magic powers, Prue. There are others who seek to hurt or kill us. Otto fights alongside us to prevent that. Maybe he's not decent, but he does fight with us rather than against us." Nickolas explained. "Eventually, when your powers are more stable and we know you can be trusted, you'll be allowed back out into the world."

"To go home?" Prue's eyebrows raised.

Nickolas shook his head. "Your home is here now... But I'll still make sure you're happy."

Prue frowned. "I don't think that's possible. Not if you won't let me go home."

Nickolas nodded slightly and silently as he stared into her eyes. She stared back and swallowed. His eyes were so blue. In a different situation, she may have had a crush on this man.

Prue shook her head and blinked her eyes. She had been full-on staring at Nickolas's eyes. She looked down at her hands in her lap. "So what do we do next?" She asked, refusing to look at him. She supposed she had no other choice but to play along.

"We'll work on your powers, make them strong, but stable. When you're ready, you'll meet Jack." Nickolas explained.

Prue frowned and looked up at him. He kept talking about Jack as though the man were some kind of frightening superior to the rest of them. "What's Jack do?"

Nickolas exhaled. "Lots of things... He's the one who will decide if you're fit to go out into the world. He's not like me though. Jack can be... harsh. He doesn't tolerate much misbehavior. If he had been the one to walk in when you were using your power on Otto... He would have hurt you."

Swallowing, Prue bit her lower lip. "Do I have to meet him?"

Nickolas smiled. "Yes, but he won't do anything to you as long as you're professional and do what he asks."

"What will he ask?" Prue frowned, fearing Jack would be like Otto, and that what he would ask of her would be something horrible, degrading, and/or humiliating.

"A demonstration of your powers, likely a pledge of loyalty... Nothing too difficult." Nickolas told her.

Prue nodded. Pledging her loyalty did sound difficult though. She wasn't going to be loyal to these people... Maybe she could fake it long enough to be released though. The way she saw it, as soon as they let her outside this building, she wasn't coming back.

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	6. Chapter 6

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CHAPTER 6

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It had been two weeks and three days since Prue had been taken by Nickolas. Against her better judgement, she had begin to feel what she could only describe as trust toward him. Of course, he was the only person she'd been in contact with besides Otto during her entire time here. By comparison, Nickolas was an angel.

And he really was kind to her, and even more patient. It had been two and a half weeks, more than long enough for him to try something, but he hadn't. During this time, she hadn't always been quick to follow his orders or suggestions. There were times when she'd get frustrated while working on her powers. A few times, she'd refused to keep working on them at all. There was even a time she telekinetically moved a book off a shelf and very purposefully hurled it at him when he made her extra angry. Even so, he never hurt her.

She knew he could have. He was significantly larger than she was and had magic powers stronger than her own. He even had the ability to take her powers away. Furthermore, she was locked in a rather small apartment with no way out, with only him with her. He hadn't made her leave the apartment ever since they arrived and hadn't let anyone else in. Two and a half weeks. Just him and her. If he wanted to do what Otto had tried to do... there were seventeen days he could have done it... but he hadn't.

Nickolas had even done his best to make her small bedroom more of a home. He had asked her what kinds of books she liked. He even promised to buy her a camera and was working on expanding the apartment to include a dark room for her to develop her photos. Prue wasn't sure how he planned to expand his home, but he was a magical being. She figured she might as well not even ask for an explanation.

Now she was mentally preparing herself to meet Jack, something she had dreaded ever since the first night she was held here. Nickolas seemed to respect the mysterious man, but also almost fear him. If Nickolas, as powerful and calm as he was, feared Jack... Prue definitely feared him too.

Nickolas had asked Prue what she wanted out of life, where she would want to go out in the world if given freedom. Prue had asked for two things - to be able to walk around town to take photos, and to go to a regular high school. She figured she'd be escorted at first, but they couldn't very well follow her around a high school all day. Maybe she could make sure they trusted her enough to let her go to school... and then she could run away. Until then, she'd have photography and reading to keep her busy.

"Ready?" Nickolas asked her, looking down at her with a very serious look on his face.

Prue swallowed and nodded, closing her eyes as Nickolas put his hands on her arms and used his power to teleport them someplace new.

Opening her eyes, Prue looked around the space. It seemed like an endless void of darkness, but with a dark, shining, blueish floor. A single man stood several yards away, with his back to them.

Prue inhaled and exhaled as she stood next to Nickolas, silently asking the man what to do next. Without thinking, she inched closer to him, so that her arm touched his as she stared with wide eyes at the man who could only be Jack.

"Nickolas." Jack spoke with a deep, powerful voice. He still hadn't turned around. "You've brought the witch." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Yes." Nickolas's voice was very serious. "She's ready."

Prue swallowed and stared at the back of the strange man's jacket. He was wearing all black. She wondered if he ever went outside. Did he just stay down here in this darkness? What did he do all day?

Jack slowly turned around. Hie eyes immediately settled on Prue. A small half-smile turned up one corner of the man's mouth. He looked older than Nickolas, and though he resembled a regular man, something about him didn't quite look human.

Prue stared silently at Jack, squeezing her hand and only then realizing she was gripping Nickolas's hand. She wondered if he had taken her hand first or if she had grabbed his without even realizing it. She looked down at their hands and then back up at Jack.

"Aren't you going to greet me, witch?" Jack frowned.

Swallowing, Prue nodded. "Um... Hi..." She squeaked.

Jack smirked. "Hello, Prudence." He looked next to her at Nickolas and nodded. "Leave us." He ordered.

Without much hesitation, Nickolas did just that, letting go of Prue's hand and disappearing.

Prue licked her lips and tried to hold her head high. She doubted Nickolas would save her if Jack did something. Nickolas was clearly in the middle of the hierarchy of this group. Otto was below him. Jack was above. If Jack wanted to hurt her, Nickolas would probably be unwilling and/or unable to do anything about it.

Prue watched silently as Jack held his hand up, maneuvering his fingers as though forming the air into a sphere. Out of nowhere, a small, object appeared floating above his hand. It was the size and shape of a golf ball, but looked smooth, shiny, and almost translucent. She narrowed her eyes at it. It almost looked like stars in the night sky.

Jack moved his hand gracefully and sent the ball carefully toward the ground, letting it settle as he produced a second one. He moved it about six inches from the first and then produced another, and another, and another, until he had lined up thirteen of them.

"Show me your power." Jack spoke, looking into Prue's eyes.

Prue swallowed as she stared back. Nickolas had at first taught her to use anger to make her power work, but they had been working on getting it to function no matter what she was feeling. She knew fear, which was somewhat connected to anger, seemed to help... and she was certainly fearful now.

"What do you want me to do?" Prue asked in a small voice. She wasn't even sure if Jack could have possibly heard her, but he answered, so he must have.

"Move them one at a time back to my hand. Starting with the first one I placed. As you go down the line, the spheres will become more dense and thus harder to move. I don't expect you to be able to move them all." Jack explained. He held his hand palm-up, and waited.

With a slight nod and a steadying breath, Prue focused on the first ball. She hoped she didn't accidentally move it harder than intended and anger Jack. Placing them into his hand required quite a bit of precision.

Staying focused on the ball as it lifted, she moved it with her eyes until it dropped gently into Jack's hand.

Prue exhaled and closed her eyes, relieved that it had gone so smoothly.

"Next." Jack ordered.

Prue looked at the next ball, narrowing her eyes and staring. It shook as it lifted off the ground. Prue grimaced as she stayed focused on it, biting her lip as it wobbled all the way over to his hand. She exhaled tiredly. That was particularly draining.

"Next." Jack spoke again.

"I don't know if I can..." Prue spoke, her voice still frustratingly small.

"Next." Jack repeated.

Prue stared at the third ball, focusing on it as hard as she could. It didn't move. Not even a little.

She shook her head and shrugged as she looked over at Jack. "I can't..."

"Try harder. Do not accept failure." Jack urged. He sounded almost mad.

Prue felt herself shrinking down as she focused on the sphere again. What was Jack going to do if she couldn't move it? He had said he didn't expect her to be able to move them all... Why wasn't he letting her fail? He expected as much...

"Focus, Prudence." Jack's voice as so serious and strong as he continued holding his hand out.

"I am." Prue squeaked. "It's not moving. I know how my power works... You just saw me use it... but I can't move this one... I just can't." Her voice was shaking.

"Then you must try harder." His words were slow and measured. He sounded slightly agitated.

Prue felt her breaths coming quicker as she stared at the third ball. Her heart pounded in her chest. She felt scared, frustrated, and angry. Scared that Jack was going to hurt her for failing his test, frustrated that her power wouldn't work when she seemed to need it most, and angry that she had to prove herself to this man at all.

"Focus!" Jack yelled.

"I am!" Prue screamed back.

Jack laughed, which made Prue even more angry. She gritted her teeth and glared at the ball. What she really wanted to do was lift it up off the ground and hurl it at Jack's smug face.

As she stared at it and almost felt herself shaking out of anger rather than fear this time, she saw the little sphere wobble ever so slightly. She wanted to feel excitement. She wanted to continue focusing on it until it levitated off the ground. She wanted to guide it toward Jack at a much faster speed than he would anticipate...

But as soon as it wobbled even a little, Prue felt all of her energy drain from her body. She swayed on her feet where she stood and then collapsed to her hands and knees, breathing deep, shaking breaths and closing her eyes. She felt like she might pass out.

"Very, very good." Jack sounded pleased as he appeared next to her, dragging her up to her feet. "You should feel proud, Prudence."

Prue frowned. No she shouldn't. She hadn't even moved it. It had barely rocked a millimeter to the side before she practically fainted.

"Most young people learning their powers struggle to move even the first one this early." Jack explained. "I will allow you out into the world, under the condition that you will respect common rules we follow and remain loyal to our group." Jack went on.

Prue blinked a long blink. She felt exhausted.

"I'll ask Nickolas to accompany you at first, but you can be on your own in no time. I'll go over the basic rules again. I'm sure Nickolas has told you, but I'll repeat them. Do not use magic in public unless absolutely necessary. Absolutely necessary means someone else using magic against you that threatens your life. Do not tell anyone about magic. Most humans do not know it exists. We need to keep it that way. Never use your magic against an ally. That means Otto. I know he tried to hurt you, and I understand you were defending yourself, but there's a fine line between defense and revenge. For now, let's stick to defense only. Use your magic enough to get him to back off without trying to kill him afterward. Understand?"

Prue frowned. The way Jack talked, it sounded like Otto attacking her might be a recurring problem.

"If you don't follow these rules, I'll make sure you feel pain for it." Jack raised his eyebrows. "There are consequences to misbehavior, and you won't like them."

"Okay." Prue finally agreed.

Jack reached for her arm, grabbing it and running his fingers lightly over her wrist. A silver bracelet appeared there. Prue stared down at it with wide eyes.

"Do not remove this. It tracks your movements, but it's constantly monitored. The second it leaves your wrist, I will know. I'm told you want to go to school. That's reasonable, but tricks will not be tolerated. You'll go to your classes and return home. Any extra socializing or activities need approval by me. Do not speak of your old life. Do not reveal our location. Remember, we're not the only ones with magic, and the three of us here are no the only ones we ally with. I have eyes everywhere. I know teachers at the school. I know students at the school. I know people working in shops around the town. I even know some of the police. Remember that." He threatened.

Prue nodded, realizing now that escape might end up being harder than she previously thought.

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	7. Chapter 7

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CHAPTER 7

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The first couple times she had gone outside with Nickolas, a large part of her felt both scared and optimistic. Surely people would look at her and would be able to tell something was wrong. How could they not? And in that event, she wasn't sure what might happen... Maybe someone would try to help her, and then what would Nickolas do? Being noticed could be her way out... or it could lead to the death of whomever was the unlucky person to suspect something was wrong and try to help her.

It didn't take her long though to realize that no one was paying attention to her. The fear of someone stepping in and Nickolas or Jack hurting them was quickly dissolved and replaced with the crushing disappointment in realizing that no one was going to pick up on the fact that she was out of place.

She couldn't exactly draw obvious attention to herself. Not with Nickolas right there. Not with Jack's threats looming over her... Even so, she hoped attention would be drawn to her anyway, if only because she had to have looked scared. How could she look like a normal teenage girl when within the past weeks she'd been kidnapped, almost sexually assaulted, and exposed to the knowledge that people in this world had powerful, deadly magic powers? How could people look at her and see a normal person when she too had magic powers all of a sudden?

But they did look at her and somehow see normal. That, or they didn't notice her at all. So Prue had resigned herself to the fact that she would have to wait for an opportunity... and maybe today was the beginning of that opportunity.

Today she had gone with Nickolas to the local high school. They were in the process of enrolling her as a student, and before long, she was going to be walking to school and attending classes all by herself. If there was going to be a chance for her to escape, this was going to be it.

She could barely believe these people were going to let her go, but she also remembered Jack claiming he had eyes everywhere, and the bracelet around her wrist weighed heavily on her arm. Jack claimed her movements would be monitored by it, and that he'd know if she removed it. The thought of running away terrified her. She had an obvious chance to... but what if everything Jack said was true? He said he'd hurt her if she tried anything... She didn't know how he meant to hurt her, but he did say he would. She certainly didn't want to find out.

Nickolas, if his license was even real, was said to be thirty-two years old. Prue was sixteen. Even so, he was going to pose as her father. It wasn't too far-fetched, and he'd probably just make up an age to claim to be. That's probably what he had done on the license in the first place. Unfortunately, Prue was going to have to go by a fake name at this school. Apparently "Prudence Halliwell" stood out, especially when her grandmother had very likely reported her as a missing child.

Prue sat silently in a chair next to Nickolas as the man filled out paperwork and casually chatted with the school's secretary, a slightly overweight woman who looked to be in her thirties. She happily giggled as Nickolas worked his charm on her. It seemed Prue wasn't the only one taken in by his beautiful eyes and attractive smile.

"Mary." The secretary finally took her eyes away from Nickolas for a moment and looked at Prue. "We have a welcome committee made up of student volunteers. I'm going to see who's got a free period right now and they can show you your locker and maybe walk you through your class schedule while your father and I finish up here." The secretary looked down at a chart taped to her desk. "Looks like Derek's got a study hall... Hold on."

Prue glanced nervously toward Nickolas, wondering if the man would object to this idea. Did he trust her to walk off without him? Nickolas smiled back at her, but didn't speak.

Swallowing nervously, Prue looked back toward the secretary, who held a phone up to her ear. "Hi, it's Beth. Could you send Derek down to show a new student around?" She paused. "Thank you." She hung up and looked back at Prue with a quick smile before turning back to Nickolas again.

Prue frowned and looked down at her lap. She didn't even feel like herself anymore. The old Prue would have cut in and asked questions about the school. She would have made sure the secretary talked to her more than her guardian. She was the student here, after all. Somehow she didn't feel like asking about trying out for cheer leading or getting excited about which classes to take here though. Maybe because she so desperately hoped this was going to be quite temporary.

"Hey Mrs. Williams." Someone spoke from behind Prue.

Prue looked over her shoulder where a dark-skinned boy stood. He smiled wide and let his eyes glance at Prue for a moment, offering her a small nod. He looked so ridiculously happy. It made Prue kind of sad.

"Derek, this is Mary Ash. She's starting here on monday. She's a sophomore." The secretary told him.

"Hey, Mary." Derek smiled and held out his hand.

Prue reluctantly took his hand and shook it.

"Here's your schedule. Your locker number and combination are at the top." Beth handed Prue a single sheet of paper and then looked back up at Derek. "If you could help her find her locker, maybe show her where a couple of her classes are... Thanks, hon." She immediately turned back toward Nickolas, leaning forward in her desk and gazing at him as she asked him more questions about when they moved here, where they lived, whether or not he was married...

Prue rolled her eyes as she stood and turned toward Derek.

"May I?" He asked, reaching for the paper Beth had given her.

Prue nodded and handed the paper over.

"Two o' five. That's on the second floor. Follow me, my lady." He grinned again as he waved his arm in a wide gesture toward the door.

Prue forced a smile and walked out of the room, glancing back only to find Nickolas was not even bothering to watch where she went. Maybe she really could escape... like within a couple minutes from now...

"So, Mary, you're a sophomore, hm? You got a license yet?" Derek asked as he led the way down the hall and toward some stairs.

"No, my grandma- er um... My dad..." She paused. She needed to be more careful. In this fake life where she was Mary, she didn't live with her grandmother. She lived with her dad.

"Oh, your dad won't let you drive?" Derek frowned. "That's okay... It's a small town. You can get most anywhere by walking. Or, you can make friends who can drive." He winked down at her.

Prue nodded. She wished she were having this conversation as herself and not as Mary. She doubted she'd be allowed to go off in some boy's car. Jack had specifically said she had to run any social activities by him for approval.

"I'm a senior." He went on. "Got my own car and everything. Not that I mean to brag... Just... If you did ever need a ride, feel free to ask."

"Okay." Prue offered a small smile and followed him up a set of stairs.

"So where'd you live before here?" Derek asked.

Prue swallowed. She hadn't asked Nickolas the answer to that question. Was she supposed to lie about that? If people were looking for a missing girl from California and a girl matching her description showed up here... acting weird and claiming to be from California... Well... She doubted her captors would want her spilling that detail. But then, since they never told her not to, maybe she should just tell him. Maybe her best bet was for someone to find her rather than for her to try to leave on her own...

"Okaaay..." Derek offered a small laugh. "That's alright. You can remain a mystery." He smirked down at her. "Here's two o' five." He pointed out her locker.

Prue froze in her tracks as she noticed a payphone just across the hall, literally yards away from her locker. She swallowed. If she were going to call someone - her Grams, the police... now would be her chance. Would Nickolas or Jack or Otto dare do anything to her if the cops were there? But then... Jack had mentioned knowing the police, or at least someone who worked with the police.

She continued staring at the phone silently debating with herself whether or not to dart toward it and desperately call someone. If Jack really did know the police, Prue could at least call Grams. Then maybe her grandmother could figure out what to do from there. Prue could tell her grandmother where she was and let the older woman do the rest.

"Mary..." Derek's voice sounded almost worried. " Mary?" He leaned down closer to her face. "You alright?"

Prue stared at him, opening her mouth to say something, but promptly closing it again. She swallowed hard, glancing toward the phone again.

"They don't like us talking on those." Derek shrugged. "I mean, you can between classes, but the second it makes you late, they get really pissed off."

Prue glanced back up at Derek's honest face. He seemed like someone she might be able to trust. He seemed nice. Maybe she could tell him something, quietly and casually. If she could just drop small truths here and there, maybe she wouldn't have to run or call the police or be so blatant about saving herself. She could do small things and hope the good people around her would do their part.

"Mary, are you okay?" Derek frowned. "You seem... I don't know... Really nervous... like more than first-day nervous..."

Prue bit her lower lip.

"What's wrong?" Derek wondered.

Prue inhaled. So someone did notice... It took days and days, but finally someone saw that she wasn't okay. Derek recognized that Prue being so obviously nervous and distressed wasn't normal.

"Should I take you to the nurse or something?" Derek's brow furrowed.

"Derek..." Prue hesitated.

"Yeah?" He stared back at her.

"I'm-" She hesitated. "I'm not really... I mean, I don't..." She felt herself shaking. Derek's wide, dark eyes continued staring. "My name's not really Mary." She blurted.

"Oh... Well, what is it then?" Derek asked. He still looked quite clearly concerned.

Prue opened her mouth, but snapped it back closed and shrunk back away from Derek as she noticed Nickolas making his way up the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Ready to go, Sweetheart?" Nickolas called down the hallway as he reached the top of the stairs.

Prue looked back toward Derek. She must have looked very worried, because he did too. "What is it?" Derek whispered. "Are you in some kind of trouble? Is that really your dad?" He leaned down even closer. "What's your real name?"

Prue looked down the hall as Nickolas drew nearer. She shook her head. "Um... no... I mean... I'm not in trouble... I- Yeah... H-he's really my dad..." She stammered.

"What's your real name?" Derek asked again.

"I... um... Just..." Prue's chest felt cold. What if she'd just made a terrible mistake? She could get Derek killed by dragging him into this. "I've got to go..." She shrugged away from him.

Derek nodded, putting his hand on her shoulder and leaning down close. "Tell me on monday." He whispered. He straightened himself back up and forced a smile. "See you later, Mary. Nice meeting you too, Sir." He nodded toward Nickolas.

"Thanks for showing Mary around." Nickolas forced a smile back.

Prue looked down at the floor and made her way down the hall, letting Nickolas put his hand on her back and lead her out of the school.

"What did he whisper to you?" Nickolas asked as they walked down the steps in front of the school.

Prue shook her head. "He just said I could sit with him at lunch if I didn't have anywhere else."

Nickolas nodded. She wondered if he was convinced.

She followed Nickolas out to the car he had driven them here in. It wasn't the same one he'd used to trick her into coming with him in the first place. She wondered if he had killed someone for this one. Maybe he'd killed someone for both of them...

"Do you know why I gave you the name Mary, Prue?" Nickolas asked as he put the car into drive and started down the road in a different direction than where they usually went.

Prue swallowed. Hopefully he wasn't taking her out to the middle of nowhere to kill her... She shook her head. "No..." She squeaked in a voice that betrayed how nervous she felt right now.

Nickolas glanced over toward her and smiled. "Honey, are you frightened right now?" He asked.

Prue inhaled carefully, trying to appear more calm than she felt. "Should I be?" She asked.

Nickolas smiled again. He shook his head and shrugged.

Looking down at her wrist, Prue touched the bracelet Jack had placed there. She wondered if it really worked how he said it did. Logically, it seemed impossible, but he did kind of summon it out of thin air with magic, so why not have it track her movements? Why not have Jack able to tell if she took it off? If magic was real, anything was possible.

"You know your family has done you a great disservice, don't you Prue?" Nickolas asked with a frown as he glanced toward her.

Prue stared back.

"You were born with powers. Your family took them from you. It would be almost understandable to take them from an infant or toddler... But here you are, a mature young woman... and still, they've denied you your powers." Nickolas shook his head as though disappointed.

She wondered what her mother and grandmother had ever actually known about this if what Nickolas had said was true. Prue was born with powers? And they took them away? And if they took them, did that mean they had powers too? She didn't remember having powers, so they must have been taken when she was still very small... but Nickolas was right... Prue was sixteen now. Why hadn't they given them back?

"I told you before that there are other people with magic powers in this world, and that many of them would use their powers against you... Unfortunately, your grandmother is one of the people I was talking about. She used her power to suppress yours." Nickolas went on.

"So did you." Prue whispered, looking down at her lap.

Nickolas exhaled. "Until I knew I could trust you. I gave them right back. You have them now, don't you?"

Prue didn't answer. He had given them back... but these people wouldn't let her leave... Maybe they weren't stifling her powers so much, but they were holding her captive.

"We don't know you that well yet. You don't know us. It's going to be rocky at first, but you'll like it with us eventually. Having magic means having to deal with people like Jack, people who can seem scary... But once you have a handle on your magic and we all know we can trust each other and stay loyal to each other, there won't be a problem at all. You can go to school, make friends, get a job if you want... Your life can be exactly how it was only better. We won't keep your powers from you. Your grandmother would. You can use your magic for yourself. Your grandmother wouldn't have let you do that..."

"What does my grandmother use her magic for?" Prue wondered.

"For taking magic away from others, Prue. She took yours..." Nickolas reminded her. "She fights people like me. She finds us threatening."

"How do I know she's not right to find you threatening?" Prue asked, swallowing nervously.

Nickolas smiled his usual charming smirk. "Do I seem threatening? Have you ever seen me do anything harmful to anyone? Have I ever hurt you?"

Prue shook her head.

"I just want to use my magic, Prue... To make my life more enjoyable... I don't hurt people... But your grandmother wouldn't find that good enough. She would fight me and try to kill me if she could." Nickolas told her.

Prue looked out toward the road as Nickolas pulled the car over to the side. They were in the middle of nowhere now, surrounded by fields.

"I don't think she would try to kill you." Prue disagreed with a frown. "Maybe since you kidnapped me... but not just because you have magic powers."

Nickolas shook his head. "She's had magic powers your whole life. She's been using them without you knowing. How do you know what she uses them for? How do you know she hasn't killed people in all that time?"

Prue swallowed. "I just..." She hesitated. "She wouldn't do that. I know her well enough. My grandmother isn't a murderer."

"She's kept a lot of secrets from you. That much is undeniable. You've got powers. She's got powers. Your mother had powers... Your sisters have powers. I mean, they don't... but they should."

"How do you know all of this?" Prue frowned.

"There are so many magical beings in this world. Some of them have ways of knowing who else among us in the world also has powers. It's been said you are destined to be very, very powerful... but you can't be if your grandmother doesn't let you. That's why we're stepping in." Nickolas told her. "I don't want your family to cheat you like mine did to me."

Prue's eyebrows rose. Was Nickolas wanting to confide in her? Reveal secrets about his own past? She really didn't know anything about him...

"My father was the one I inherited my magic from. My mother didn't have powers." Nickolas went on, shifting slightly in his seat and looking away, almost as though sharing this was uncomfortable for him. "But my mother didn't want to restrict my powers. My father did... He said I was unpredictable due to my youth."

"Did he take them?" Prue wondered. Obviously it wouldn't have been permanent, since she had witnessed him use his powers... but maybe Nickolas had his powers bound just as Prue had, until someone unbound them.

Nickolas shook his head. "He was going to... My mother tried to stop him. He killed her."

Prue gasped softly. She didn't know what to say though.

"And I killed him." Nickolas's mouth was set in a straight line as he stared ahead out the windshield. "I had to."

Prue looked down at her lap. Nickolas had killed his own father? Prue knew how it felt to have a father who was less than supportive, but she couldn't imagine having to kill him. Of course, she didn't believe her father would have ever tried to kill her mother.

"Her name was Mary." Nickolas went on, finally taking his eyes off the road and looking across the seat at Prue.

Prue glanced up at him. "I'm sorry..." She finally spoke in a small voice. "...That you had to do that... That your father did what he did..."

"It was a very, very long time ago." Nickolas explained. "I'm not looking for sympathy though. I just want you to see that your grandmother isn't a victim in this scenario. If you compare my life to yours, she's equivalent to my father. She wanted to suppress and control you. That isn't right."

"Aren't you guys controlling me?" Prue frowned. "I'm not allowed to go home. I'm being tracked." She raised her arm slightly, nodding toward the bracelet Jack had put there.

"Only for a while." Nickolas told her. "We're just making sure you stay safe. Magic is dangerous. In time, you'll be free to do whatever you like. We're just keeping a watch over you until it's safe for us not to."

Prue exhaled and looked out the windshield. Judging by what Nickolas was saying, everyone involved in this whole word of magic was seeking to control her in some way or another. Grams didn't trust her with her powers. These people let her have them but kept her held captive... While it made her a little angry to know her grandmother had kept this from her, she was still pretty sure she'd rather be home than here. What good were magic powers if she was constantly fearful of the group of men who kidnapped her? She couldn't even live her life...

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	8. Chapter 8

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CHAPTER 8

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"It's very important that you understand not to call the wrong kind of attention to us today." Nickolas explained as he and Prue stood in the living room of his apartment.

It seemed Nickolas was growing more and more comfortable taking Prue out into the world, but was still dropping reminders. They clearly hoped she would soon be able to go wherever she wanted and always come back. She supposed they thought they had convinced her that living with them and using her powers how they used their would be fun. They were wrong. She still wanted to go home. She tried not to make that obvious though. The more she looked like she was okay being here, the greater chance they might stop watching her so closely. Then would come her chance to escape for good.

"Do you know how roulette works?" Nickolas asked.

Prue stared at him and shook her head. "Not really... Well, I mean... kind of..." She whispered. "Is that what we're doing today? Are we going to gamble... and cheat?"

Nickolas smiled a soft smile, making his eyes look like attractive half-moons again. "You could call it cheating... But there's not exactly any rule in place saying magic powers aren't allowed, right? People like you and I have to suffer a lot from being born with powers. We deserve this."

Prue frowned. She didn't feel good about cheating.

"We're going to start off slow, making small bets." He took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb across her palm. "If I do this..." He moved his thumb twice across her skin. "We'll lose on purpose. We can't win every time." He shook his head. "People will get suspicious."

Swallowing, Prue nodded. She wasn't sure she really had a choice in this matter.

"And of course, it might be difficult for you to be precise at first. You'll get the hang of it. That's why the bets are going to start low. When I feel like you're being accurate, my bet's going to increase. We can win a lot of money this way. That's how this is all going to pay off - using our powers to our advantage." Nickolas explained.

With a frown, Prue looked down at his hand on hers. "Do I have to?" She whispered, glancing back up at him. "I don't really want to cheat..."

"The world cheats you quite enough, doesn't it? Time to cheat it right back." Nickolas suggested, narrowing his eyes and looking into hers. "You won't regret it. Just give it a try this one time. If cheating isn't your forte, we'll try something else next time. But you've go to give it a try. There's no real victim here. Casinos are the biggest cheats in the world."

Prue stared into his blue eyes. He had a point. Casinos really did cheat people. They wouldn't exist if they didn't make gobs of money every day.

"What do you say, Darling?" Nickolas offered a charming smile. "Will you be my good luck charm?"

Prue couldn't help but to smirk. That was actually pretty funny... to call it good luck when it was definitely a thousand percent cheating. Nickolas was kind of witty. She wished he hadn't kidnapped her and wasn't pressuring her into thievery... She wanted to like him... but there was a lot going on here.

"I'll even let you pick the number." Nickolas added. "And I'll let you have a drink... near the end though. Can't have you losing focus."

Prue felt her eyebrows rise. He was going to let her drink? Did casinos let teenagers drink? She didn't even have a fake ID... and she did not look twenty one. How was that going to work? She wondered if she should accept his offer. It might be kind of fun. If she was stuck with these people, she might as well take advantage of the situation. Grams would have never let her drink alcohol.

"Okay." She finally agreed.

"Great." Nickolas smiled. "Remember, be smart. No negative attention. Move the ball slowly and realistically... and when I give the signal-" He rubbed his thumb over her palm twice, just like before. "-lose on purpose."

Prue nodded. She closed her eyes as Nickolas put his arms around her and used his power to take them to the casino. Traveling with him this way always made her feel disoriented.

Prue wobbled on her feet slightly as she felt a slightly different texture under her feet. She opened her eyes. They were in a public bathroom, inside a stall. The floor was tile. She frowned and looked up at Nickolas. "And this isn't suspicious?" She raised her eyebrows.

"I can't show up from thin air in the middle of the casino, Prue." He spoke in a low voice. "If anyone asks, you felt sick and I didn't want to leave you by yourself. This bathroom isn't usually busy. Probably no one will see us."

"You do this a lot?" Prue frowned. "How do you cheat when I'm not here?"

"Shhh." Nickolas put his finger over her lips. "Don't talk about that here. Let's go."

Nickolas held her hand as he led her out of the bathroom and out onto the casino floor.

She looked around, taking note of various tables with cards and dice. She had no idea where they were right now. With Nickolas's ability to teleport pretty much anywhere, there was no way of knowing. It wasn't Las Vegas though. It was too small for that. Nickolas was probably trying to keep a relatively low profile. That's why he wanted her to lose on purpose sometimes - to keep it realistic. To make sure everyone believed he just got lucky when it mattered and not that he was somehow winning every single time. Nickolas was smart about how he did this.

"Hey, Nick!" Someone spoke in a voice way too loud for how close he was to them. He walked up next to Nickolas and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "And you've brought a beautiful young lady with you today." He smiled, looking at Prue.

Prue felt her breath catch in her throat as she stared up at him. She still wasn't used to people talking to her like everything was normal. She still felt like people should be able to see that something was wrong just by looking at her. Why was almost everyone so blind?

"This is Mary." Nickolas introduced her by the fake name he'd given her. "My lucky charm." He winked at her.

Prue forced a smile.

"I'd say! You're a lucky man, Nick." He looked from Nickolas to Prue. "You're beautiful, Mary, If you don't mind my saying... And don't worry. He doesn't bring other girls here... Not that you'd have competition, because like I said, you're gorgeous. How'd Nick get a girl like you?"

"Oh... I'm not..." Prue hesitated. Was she Nickolas's daughter in this scenario? She didn't like the thought of portraying a romantic interest, but she supposed it was kind of up to him. She still thought he didn't look old enough to have a sixteen year old daughter, but the secretary at the school sure hadn't thought anything of it.

"Stop harassing my date, Mike." Nickolas laughed and shoved the other man playfully. He gripped Prue's hand tighter and pulled her along.

"Good luck, Mary. Hope you're as lucky as you are pretty." Mike smirked at her as Nickolas led her away.

Prue swallowed and looked down as she followed Nickolas.

"Sorry about him... He's probably drunk." Nickolas told her in a low voice as they approached the table.

Prue nodded. "That's okay." She breathed out, feeling more and more nervous. What if she didn't have as much control over her power as Nickolas thought? Aiming a roulette ball perfectly and in such a way that it didn't look unnatural might be really difficult. What if someone suspected they were cheating? What would they do?

Nickolas had told her to choose the number they'd bet on. Since she felt like she did indeed need some luck in this situation, she picked a number that she felt a connection to - 3. For her and her sisters. The three of them may not have always gotten along, but she didn't feel closer to anyone in the world than she did to them. Sometimes they felt like a single unit, regardless of the fact that they fought all the time.

After Nickolas had placed his first bet, a low bet, Prue focused on the ball bouncing around the wheel. As the wheel slowed, Prue tried to slow the ball along with it. She watched the wheel, waiting for it to seem like it wouldn't be spinning much more. As it slowed, she stared at the ball, guiding it as carefully as she could, but keeping it bouncing realistically.

She guided it right toward the number 3, gasping slightly as it bounced back out. She bit her lip and guided it backwards, feeling herself shaking slightly. That didn't look real. The ball wasn't supposed to bounce backwards. What if she had just screwed up everything?

She winced internally and squeezed Nickolas's hand. He was going to be mad at her. She'd messed up already. The very first time, and she already wasn't convincing. Prue could feel herself actually shaking as she stared at the ball sitting suspiciously right where Nickolas had placed his bet. She wanted to look up at the man running the game, to see if he looked suspicious of her... but she was too scared to make eye-contact. She just kept staring at the ball.

"Holy shit, Nick! You lucky son of a bitch!" Mike's voice called from behind Prue as the man slapped Nickolas on the back and put his hand lightly on Prue's arm, squeezing in a way that though wasn't rough, was a little aggressive from someone she didn't know. "I thought for sure you lost, but damn! It's like that ball changed its fuckin' mind at the last second! Holy shit!"

"No need to get excited. It was a small bet." Nickolas spoke through slightly clenched teeth. He squeezed Prue's hand and ran his thumb twice along her palm.

Prue exhaled. She could relax this time. She didn't need to try to control the ball at all. She could just let it go naturally. She stared at the wheel as it spun again. As it slowed and the ball moved toward the number three again, Prue felt her eyes widen. Was she supposed to make sure that they lost or just not try specifically to win?

The ball came to rest in the number three slot again. She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at the ball, flipping it out of the three slot and into the next one.

"Wow..." Mike leaned over the wheel and frowned. "Wheel's bein' all wonky today, huh? Maybe you're not so lucky after all..." He stumbled off somewhere, and for that, Prue was glad. He was making her even more nervous.

"That's okay." Nickolas looked down at Prue and squeezed her hand. "You can't win 'em all, Babe." He nodded slightly and smiled.

"Yeah." Prue breathed. He wasn't mad.

Nickolas placed a larger bet for the next one, and didn't give Prue the signal. She focused on the ball, landing it much more smoothly in the slot this time. She exhaled and closed her eyes as soon as it landed in place.

Nickolas placed four smaller bets, making Prue lose them on purpose before placing a larger bet that he also had her deliberately fail to win. Maybe that was for the sake of keeping this realistic too - so he didn't only lose the small bets. She was sure he knew exactly what he was doing.

Things went on like this for about a half hour until he had placed and won several large bets. Prue wasn't sure how much they had won. At least several tens of thousands of dollars. She had lost track because half the time she was so focused on making sure the ball went where it was supposed to that she hadn't even listened to what the bet was.

When Nickolas had won enough to be satisfied, he cashed in their chips and led Prue over to a bar. He ordered her drink for her, fortunately. She wouldn't have known what to order... She hadn't ever been to a bar before. She'd only ever stolen whine coolers from Andy's mom. Somehow, the bartender didn't ask her for ID. Prue frowned as she looked at herself in the reflection of a mirror running along the back of the bar. She didn't look older than before... She looked very much like a teenager. It was kind of disheartening that there was so much wrong in this situation, and yet no one paid her any attention. If she had tried going to a bar back in California, looking like this... No way would she have been served. Maybe people around here knew Nickolas and let him do whatever he wanted...

Whatever he had ordered for her was fruity and kind of strong. She sipped at it as Nickolas drank something caramel-colored in a short glass. She bet his wasn't as sweet as hers.

"So what do you think?" Nickolas smiled.

Prue nodded. "It's good. It's very sweet."

"Not about that..." Nickolas chuckled. His eyes were so pretty when he smiled or laughed. "About roulette. Did you enjoy it?"

Prue grimaced and shrugged. "I... Well, it was kinda nerve-racking." She admitted.

Nickolas nodded. "You'll like what comes next though. How about a really nice camera?"

"Really?" Prue felt a smile tugging at her lips as she looked back at him. Grams hadn't ever taken her photography passion seriously. She said a fancy camera was a waste of money considering it was only a hobby and couldn't possibly lead to anything lucrative.

"Sure. Why not?" Nickolas shrugged. "I think you've earned it."

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	9. Chapter 9

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CHAPTER 9

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The next day when Prue woke up, she was all alone in Nickolas's apartment. She wondered where he went. He hadn't ever left her alone before... Ordinarily, in the mornings, she'd awake to the smell of Nickolas cooking breakfast. It had taken her two days before she'd finally eat anything he cooked. She was so paranoid at first... but eventually, hunger won over her paranoia and she was happy to find none of the food had any sort of drug or trick to it. It was just normal food.

Today, there were no smells. She walked carefully toward the kitchen. It looked so spotless and quiet. She wasn't sure how Nickolas kept the apartment looking so nice when she never saw him cleaning and never asked for her help to clean either. Maybe he somehow used his magic to keep it looking this way.

She opened the refrigerator. A small bowl of fruit sat on the top shelf along with a note. "Be back soon. Enjoy." The handwriting was so pretty. She wondered how Nickolas managed to be so entirely charming. Every time she started to feel like he was someone she could trust, every time they spent an evening together talking or telling stories and she felt content and comfortable with him, she felt more and more disappointed in herself.

Prue closed the refrigerator. She didn't want to eat yet. This was the first time she'd been left alone here... So she decided to explore the place. Now that she wasn't being watched, she could better search for a way out.

She went to Nickolas's bedroom first. If there was something to be found here, she assumed that would be where to look first.

His room was a lot like hers - no windows... and very simple, yet nice pieces of furniture. She opened the drawer of the nightstand next to his bed. Inside was a single book, and it looked very old... but it didn't seem to have a title. Maybe it was a journal or sketch book.

She opened the cover and flipped through the pages. It did seem to be a journal... but it was all written in a language she didn't recognize. She frowned, running her fingers over the words. The pages had slight indentions she could feel where there was writing. It was definitely hand-written. She wondered what it meant.

Flipping through more pages, Prue noticed unfamiliar symbols drawn here and there. Maybe these were all some sorts of magic spells... Though Nickolas never seemed to chant anything when casting his magic. Maybe these were ones he used in private.

She frowned and put the book back, moving on to his desk. More papers were stacked there, all written in seemingly the same language. She wondered what language it was... He didn't have an accent. Why didn't he write in English? She wondered where he was from... Or was this just some kind of magic code writing?

She looked up on the shelf next to his desk. Several crystal-looking knick-nacks sat on the top shelf, along with a framed photo of a woman who looked to be in her mid to late thirties. The woman was pretty. She had shiny, curly blonde hair and large green eyes... Her smile looked kind too. Prue wondered if it was Nickolas's mother.

She reached up to the shelf and picked up a translucent ball. It seemed to be made of glass or crystal, like a giant marble, the size of a baseball. She stared into it. It almost looked like stars inside. The closer she looked, the more it seemed like the sparkly specks inside the sphere were moving, very slowly rotating.

"Doing some snooping, little girl?" A voice asked from behind her.

Prue gasped and dropped the glass ball as she spun around toward the voice. She winced and looked down where the sphere had fallen. It was in quite a few pieces now. She swallowed and looked back up at Otto, who stood in the doorway. "What are you doing here?" She asked in a breathless voice.

"Checking in." Otto smirked. "I heard Nick was meeting with Jack... Heard he left you all alone up here. Wanted to make sure you weren't up to anything. I guess it's a good thing I came up. Nick's not going to be happy."

Prue shook her head. "I didn't do anything... I'm just looking..."

"In Nickolas's bedroom? I'm sure he wouldn't have invited that." He looked down toward Prue's feet and nodded. "And you're breaking his stuff."

"It was an accident..." Prue squeaked, staring at Otto, noticing he still had a mark around his neck where she had tried to strangle him with his necklace before. She noticed he wasn't wearing a necklace today.

"Nickolas is pretty patient, but he's got limits. He's very protective of his possessions. I mean, you'll see... I wouldn't be surprised if he broke something of yours in response." Otto told her.

Prue frowned and looked down. The only thing she had of any value was her camera... and Nickolas had just bought it. Surely he wouldn't break it.

"Probably not anything material, Babydoll. Maybe your arm." Otto laughed.

She wondered if that was true. She looked down at the pieces of the broken glass... or crystal... or whatever it was. She had no way of knowing how valuable it was. It certainly looked priceless.

"I'll tell you what, Prue..." Otto went on. "I'll make you a deal. I can fix that." He nodded toward the broken sphere again. "I can keep this to myself. Nick'll never have to know you went through his things and broke his valuable possessions."

"Okay..." Prue breathed, waiting for the second half of this proposition. She knew Otto wasn't going to do her any favors without something in return.

"This is a really good deal, Prue... So don't freak out. I'm being extremely generous here... I won't even hurt you." Otto explained, seeming hesitant to actually tell her what it was he wanted. "I just want two minutes."

Prue frowned, waiting for him to say something more. He stared at her. "Two minutes?" She asked nervously.

"Two minutes." He repeated. "Take off your dress. Take off your bra. Keep your panties on... and let me kiss you and touch you."

Prue shook her head immediately, wrapping her arms protectively around herself. "No." She refused.

"Nick's gonna be mad..." Otto reminded her. "I won't even hurt you. You deserve it... but I won't hurt you. I'll be real gentle."

"NO." Prue spoke in a louder voice.

Otto's smile fell as he glared at her. "You've got a lot to learn around here, Prue." He growled. "When someone makes you an offer, a compromise... you should take it. I'll help you, and all you have to do is just sit there for two minutes and let me touch you. It won't even hurt. I'll stay out of your panties... leave your tight, prude little pussy alone..."

"Get out." Prue spoke in a stern voice, trying to keep her anger and fear from being obvious. "Leave. Or I'll tell Nickolas. I don't care if he's mad about the globe. Get out."

Otto frowned. His mouth twitched as he stared at her. Without much hesitation, he lunged toward her.

Prue screamed, stumbling back against the shelf full of knick-knacks... or magical whatever-they-were... Several of them rolled or were otherwise knocked off of the shelf, crashing to the floor. She was certain at least some of them had broken during the fall.

She whimpered as Otto threw himself at her, grabbing at her arms and crushing her against the floor. She noticed his fingernails were quite sharp, biting into her arms.

"Get off of me!" Prue gasped in a breathless voice as he let go of her arms and reached toward the front of her dress, pulling at the low-cut trim near her breasts. He tugged at it until it started to tear.

Prue cursed herself for wearing a short dress again. Nickolas's more gentle behavior had gotten her to let her guard down. For the first week of her captivity, once she finally agreed to change her clothes, she had been sticking to long pants and high-cut shirts. She'd gotten too comfortable here in Nickolas's apartment. She hadn't counted on Otto returning.

Gritting her teeth together as the sound of ripping fabric filled her ears, Prue grabbed at the scattered objects she'd knocked onto the floor from Nickolas's shelf. She grabbed something hard, didn't bother looking at what it was, and slammed it against the side of Otto's temple.

"Bitch!" He growled, punching her across her face before grabbing at her arms again.

Prue whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut, but as Otto moved to grip both of her arms in one hand and put his other hand on her chest, her eyes shot back open. She pulled unsuccessfully at her arms as she looked frantically around the room, spotting Nickolas's book shelf. She focused on a book and moved it quickly toward her, slamming it into the back of Otto's head.

"God damn it." He growled, letting go of her arms and pressing his hand hard over her eyes, crushing the back of her head painfully against the floor.

She grabbed at his hand, trying to pry it off of her face as he pulled at her bra with his other hand. She was lucky he seemed confused about how the garment worked. He seemed to think pulling it hard enough would make it fall in half or something. He didn't seem to realize he had to unclasp it, or at the very least, push it up or move the straps and pull it down.

Prue winced as he pulled viciously at her bra, causing the back of it and the straps to dig into her skin. "Stop!" She moaned, moving her hands down to her bra instead, holding it in place.

She heard Otto growl as he pushed his hand harder against her eyes and scratched his sharp fingernails against her abdomen. It honestly felt like claws.

Prue screamed in pain, moving her hands down to her stomach where she swore she felt a small amount of sticky blood. "Please..." She sobbed.

"Should have taken me up on my offer, bitch." Otto growled, grabbing the material of her dress and tearing it further, She felt his hand on her stomach, moving down toward her pelvis.

"No!" She screamed, thrashing under him. "No! No!" She screamed as he reached for her dress again, trying to tear the remaining material. He couldn't seem to quite get it, so he settled on pushing the skirt up over her hips so that it was gathered around her stomach.

Maybe without thinking, he moved his hand off of her eyes, using both hands to grab at her panties. As he started tugging them down, Prue took the opportunity given to her. As quickly as she could, she focused on anything and everything in the room. Hurling objects one after another. Something glass broke against the side of Otto's head, causing small pieces to rain down on her.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the tiny bits of glass fell onto her face. But she must have hit Otto hard enough, because he let go of her underwear and fell back slightly.

Prue squirmed out from under him and climbed to her feet, running toward the bedroom door. She had nowhere to go. This apartment had no exit... and she couldn't even lock herself in a room to escape someone who had the magical ability to teleport...

Prue sobbed as she ran as far as she could. She settled on climbing into the cabinet under the sink. Maybe he wouldn't look there...

As she heard Otto stomping angrily through the apartment, Prue pulled herself into a tiny ball, forcing herself to breathe much slower than her frantic, panicked lungs wanted to. She felt so frightened. She wanted to gulp in air... but that would be too loud. The slower her breaths, the tighter her chest felt. She might pass out.

She was shaking as she continued controlling her breaths as best as she could. She looked down at her stomach in the limited light. She could barely see anything in here... but she could see five angry red marks stretched across her stomach. She bit back a sob as she put her fingertips carefully against the wound. She felt her lip trembling.

Prue held her breath as she could swear she heard voices. She listened more carefully. It was Nickolas. And Otto. They were talking to each other.

"Where is she?" Nickolas's voice asked. "Did you hurt her, Otto?" He sounded disappointed, but maybe not quite angry.

"Of course not." Otto answered. "Well.. not until she started throwing things at me. What was I supposed to do? I was careful though. I defended myself, but I did't hurt her too bad."

"Well, where is she?" Nickolas sounded annoyed still, but not like he was really upset. Did he even care that Otto had just attacked her... again? He should have been pissed right now. Otto broke into his home and attacked her...

Prue frowned, feeling tears spilling down her cheeks as she squeezed herself smaller in the confined space. She didn't ever want to come out. She wanted to go home. This place was a nightmare.

"She ran off, Nick." Otto spoke. She could hear their voices moving as they walked around the apartment looking for her. Why wasn't Nick telling Otto to get the hell out? "I came here to check that she wasn't up to anything... found her in your room... I tried to stop her from going through your things. She started throwing stuff at me with her power. Nick, I tried to be gentle. I really did."

"Well, she couldn't have gotten far. There's no way out of here." Nickolas told him. They sounded closer now. Maybe even in the same room as her.

Prue felt her lip trembling again as sobs threatened to escape.

"You shouldn't let her get away with this, Nick." Otto went on. "I'm sure you didn't invite her to snoop around your room. She's forgetting her place. And I don't appreciate being attacked."

Prue didn't hear an answer from Nickolas. She did hear what sounded like the pantry door opening. Would they check the cabinets too?

"Prue, you can come out. We're not mad." Nickolas called out in a calm voice.

"Speak for yourself, Nick." Otto grumbled. "I'm mad."

"We're not going to hurt you, Baby." Nickolas went on. "Just come out."

Prue held her breath and tried to make herself smaller. She heard a cabinet on the other side of the room being opened and closed. She gasped and shrunk back as the cabinet she was in was pulled open. Otto stared at her with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Found her." He said to Nickolas as he reached toward her.

"Don't touch me!" Prue screamed, crawling backward as far as she could.

"Back up, Otto." Nickolas instructed the other man as he came up behind him and knelt down. A strange look crossed his face as he stared at Prue. "Otto... You can go. I'll sort this out." He spoke with a frown and furrowed brows.

"But-" Otto started.

"Otto." Nickolas interrupted, looking over his shoulder. "Go."

Otto rolled his eyes and exhaled before disappearing.

xxxxxx


	10. Chapter 10

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CHAPTER 10

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xxxxxx

"Stay away from me..." Prue sobbed as Nickolas reached his hand toward her. She cowered back as far as the small cabinet allowed, which wasn't far. She also had pipes from the sink to try to avoid.

"He's gone, Prue. Let me help you." Nickolas urged.

"No..." Prue gasped, shrinking away from his hand.

Nickolas exhaled and moved back. "You're going to live under the sink now?" He frowned.

Prue felt her lip trembling as she stared at him.

"Honey, you're hurt. We need to get you cleaned up." Nickolas went on. "I'm trying to help you here."

Prue shook her head again. "Just leave me alone. I don't need your help."

He took another step back and shrugged. "Fine. I'll leave it to you. You can take care of yourself."

Prue's breaths were still deep and quick as she gripped the pipe of the sink and stared out into the kitchen. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want to come out. Obviously she couldn't stay under the sink forever, but right now, it was the only thing that she wanted. She wanted to just close the cabinet door, curl herself into a ball, and sob.

"So... What's your plan then?" Nickolas frowned. "Are you going to come out at some point?"

Silently, Prue stared back. She shook her head.

"Prue." Nickolas stared at her with his clear, deep blue eyes. She stared back, feeling almost taken in by them. Something about the way he looked at her always made her want to trust him. "Have I ever hurt you? You've got to trust me, Baby. I wouldn't do anything bad to you. I'm trying to help."

Swallowing, Prue stared silently back at him, her eyes focused intently on his. He was right. He hadn't ever hurt her. And she had to come out eventually. "Okay..." She finally agreed in a small, shaking voice.

"Good girl." Nickolas took her hand and helped her climb out from the cabinet. "You poor thing..." He frowned as he looked her up and down.

Prue looked down at herself, noticing the torn dress hanging loosely around her body. It was still in-tact from the waist down. The claw-marks across her stomach were angry and red and she noticed her bra pushed half-way up her breasts.

With shaking hands, Prue adjusted her bra and inhaled a shaking breath. She bit her trembling lip and then finally raised her hands up to her face, hiding her eyes with her hands as she couldn't keep herself from sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Prue." Nickolas wrapped his arms around her. "I didn't know he would come here. I thought you'd be safe."

Prue wasn't sure if she wanted to shove him away or not. For now, she let him hold her as she sobbed. Her stomach burned where the long, deep scratches stretched across her skin. She felt ashamed for not fighting back better. Why had it taken her so long to use her powers? Why couldn't she get a handle on them? What good were they if she couldn't use them when she needed them?

"We should get you to Jack." Nickolas noted as he put his hand on the back of her head and held her close.

"W-why?" Prue gasped, pulling back and looking up at him through her tears. "No... I don't want to..." Jack scared her. She didn't like him.

"To heal you, Sweetheart." Nickolas answered.

Prue shook her head, but apparently it wasn't up for discussion. She squeezed her eyes shut and shrunk down as Nickolas used his power to take them down to the same, dark, strange place she'd gone before to meet Jack.

"Nickolas..." Jack spoke in a low, measured voice. Prue kept her eyes shut, scared Jack would be angry with her for some reason. Maybe he would be disappointed that she didn't use her powers to stop this from happening. He seemed to feel very strongly about her using her powers and using them to the best of their potential.

"Otto attacked her." Nickolas spoke with a frown in his voice as he put his hands on Prue's arms and pulled her back away from his chest. "Can you heal her?"

Prue opened her eyes and stared at Jack, who stared back with a frown. He looked angry.

With a low growl in his throat, Jack closed his eyes for a moment, and then Otto appeared several paces away. Prue's eyes widened. Had Jack just summoned him here without a word, just by thinking it?

"Explain." Jack spoke, staring at Otto.

Otto looked scared. "I..." He hesitated, looking at Prue and scowling.

Prue swallowed and shrunk down behind Nickolas.

"She was going through Nick's things... He left her alone in his apartment so he could come meet with you. I went to check on her..." Otto started.

"Why?" Jack asked, sounding very calm, but still accusatory.

"T-to make sure she wasn't doing anything she wasn't supposed to..." Otto explained.

"And?" Jack waited for the rest of Otto's version of events.

"She was in his room, snooping. She saw me there and used her power against me. I was only defending myself." Otto went on. "I showed her mercy when she tried to kill me and all I did was scratch her. I could have done worse."

"Is that how it went, Witch?" Jack looked back at Prue.

Prue shook her head. "I was just looking..." She breathed out. "M-maybe I shouldn't have been in Nickolas's room... but Otto... H-he attacked me... I didn't use my power until he was on top of me."

Jack's eyes scanned Prue up and down. He looked over to Otto and narrowed his eyes. "Come. Both of you."

Prue reluctantly agreed, walking slowly up to him. Otto did the same. Otto was close enough that he could have reached out and touched her if he wanted... He didn't dare. He knew he wasn't supposed to be attacking her, and wouldn't even try with Jack here.

"Hold still. Relax." Jack ordered, looking at Prue. "This may feel odd. I'm going to access each of your memories of the event, together, to tell what really happened."

Prue swallowed nervously as she glanced toward Otto, who looked as anxious as she felt. She forced herself to remain still as Jack placed his hand lightly across her forehead. He did the same to Otto, and then closed his eyes for several minutes.

As they stood there, perfectly still, Prue stared at Jack. Was he somehow watching what had happened in his mind? Was it playing back like a video? Was he able to tell what each of them had been thinking? Was he going to be upset with Prue for sneaking around looking for means of escape?

Finally, Jack opened his eyes and moved his hands. "I'll heal you, Prue." He agreed. "Do not sneak around in the future. I could see your mind. You weren't just looking out of curiosity... but it ended up harmless, regardless of your intent. Do not do it again." He threatened.

Prue breathed in and out nervously. She nodded and froze as Jack moved his hand down to her stomach, placing it there and closing his eyes as the pain disappeared and the scratches went away.

"Otto..." Jack frowned as he looked at him. He gently shoved Prue back, silently instructing her to go back to Nickolas. She looked over her shoulder as she slowly made her way back. Otto looked so scared. She didn't feel bad for him, but she did feel scared of seeing what Jack might do.

"Your lustful thoughts sicken me." Jack went on, glaring at Otto as the man stared back with fear in his eyes. "Prue's actions did not warrant that response. You have a one-track mind, and you need to change that. We don't keep you around so you can violently rape anyone we try to bring into our circle. The fact that's all you think about makes me wonder why we've put up with you so long."

"Come on, Prue." Nickolas urged, reaching his hand out, seemingly wanting to get her out of here sooner rather than later.

She stared back at Otto as Jack placed his hand over the man's chest. She gasped and closed her eyes as Otto's pained screams filled her ears. Nickolas wrapped his arms around her and took her away.

As they came into being in the living room of Nickolas's apartment, Prue opened her eyes again, breathing in and out shaking breaths. She stared across the space, into Nickolas's room, which was a mess after her fight with Otto. She wanted the man to suffer for what he had done to her. She wanted him to learn a lesson and never touch or look at her ever again... But at the same time, she knew Jack was powerful, and possibly more cruel than most. She wondered what exactly he was doing to make Otto scream like that.

"Did he kill him?" Prue whispered as Nickolas led her back to her bedroom.

"No." Nickolas shook his head as he sat Prue down on the end of her bed. "Just a punishment. It's pain with no lasting effects. He'll feel it. It'll be excruciating to him, but he'll live, and hopefully learn. We're not all against you, Prue. You're not below us. No one here is above another except for Jack, and he tries to be fair, though stern. Otto was out of line. He's suffering for it."

He moved to the dresser and started looking through it, settling on a basic t-shirt and some pajama shorts. He handed them to her and then turned to face away so she could get dressed. Not that it really mattered. He'd pretty much seen everything by now. Her dress was practically torn in half when he found her.

Prue shrugged out of what was left of her dress and pulled the t-shirt and shorts on. As she did so, she noticed her hands were shaking and her vision was blurred with tears. She wasn't sure why she felt so upset. She wasn't really hurt, not anymore... and Otto was facing punishment... Maybe the punishment was too harsh... but maybe it wasn't. Perhaps part of her felt guilty for not being that upset at hearing the man screaming in pain. Maybe being around Nickolas was changing her. Maybe using her magic selfishly was turning her into a bad person.

"Are these the photos you took yesterday?" Nickolas asked.

Prue sniffed and looked up. He was looking at a row of six photographs she had developed late last night. She had hung them up above her dresser, but they weren't even that good. She had very little experience developing photos in a dark room. They were really only practice.

"They're beautiful, Prue. Will you tell me about them?" Nickolas persisted.

She frowned. He seemed to be trying to distract her. "They're just pictures." She finally mumbled halfheartedly. She didn't really feel like explaining her photography right now, especially not when Nickolas probably didn't even really think they were good. He was just trying to be nice.

"But there's a reason you chose to take them." Nickolas noted, letting his eyes scan the photographs as though he were looking at precious artwork in a museum. "I'd love to hear the story behind each of them."

Prue exhaled and stared at the photos too. "What story? You were there, Nickolas. You haven't let me go anywhere by myself yet."

"We each see the world differently though. Everyone does. Your photographs are the closest thing to seeing through your eyes anyone else can experience. How about this one?" He gestured toward a photograph of flowers. They were all wilted except the one in the center.

She stared at the photo too. She supposed she could play along. "I guess..." Prue started, trying to think of why she had chosen to take that photo. "It's a representation of life... The flower in the middle is still living, while everything around it dies. It keeps trying to thrive, but it's going to die too. It'll end up like the rest eventually."

Nickolas nodded. "Life and death. I like it. You want to know what I see in this photo?" He asked, turning toward her and offering a very slight smile.

Prue shrugged.

"I see you. You're the flower. The flower that's still growing, still living, doing your own thing rather than letting yourself follow the rest of them. The others followed the rules and died with the frost. This one's a rebel." Nickolas explained.

Prue scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I am following rules though. Your rules. Jack's rules." She reminded him. "If I were to be represented by a flower, it'd be one with its roots ripped up out of the soil and transplanted into sand, weighed heavily down so it can't escape, but it won't grow well, and will eventually die."

Nickolas frowned. "I hope you won't always feel like that, Sweetheart. Not every day will be like today." He looked at the next photo in line, a self-portrait Prue took of her reflection in her bedroom mirror. In the photo, she stared ahead, not quite frowning, but certainly not smiling. Nickolas put his fingers against the image and then turned toward her. "I want you to be happy here, Prue."

"I know." She looked down, for some reason almost feeling guilty. What was she supposed to do though? Ignore the fact that Otto kept attacking her? How could she be happy with that threat always looming? She missed her family too.

"Your life here will get better Prue. I promise. We're just working out the kinks now." Nickolas assured her. "And if Otto's behavior doesn't improve, Jack's probably going to kill him... and if he doesn't, maybe you can."

"I don't want to kill anyone." Prue shook her head. "And you told me not to before. Remember? When I was strangling Otto?" She shuddered as she remembered that... the feeling she had felt in that moment was terrifying, not only because of the fear in her heart, but because she was fully ready to strangle him until he died. He wasn't even attacking her anymore. She had stopped him and could have eased up, but she didn't want to. In that moment, she did want to kill him. It wasn't self defense anymore. It was revenge.

Nickolas laughed. "That was impressive. I mean, killing an ally should be a last resort, and maybe you acted too soon... But I won't lie and say I didn't feel proud of you on some level."

"Really?" Prue felt a smile tugging at her lips.

"Of course. Your magic is for getting what you want or need and defending yourself. You did great." Nickolas answered. "It's true I didn't want you to actually kill him... but if he can't sort his impulses out, maybe it'll be necessary."

Prue frowned. She really didn't want to have to kill Otto. She just wanted him to leave her alone. "He's going to be really mad at me..." She noted. "I don't think he's gonna just let this go."

"He'll learn his lesson. He'd be a fool to try to hurt you again after this." Nickolas told her. He narrowed his eyes as he looked down at her with a frown. "You've got a bruise on your cheek."

Prue reached her fingertips up to her face, touching the place where Otto had hit her.

"It doesn't look too dark yet... If we must, before we send you to school tomorrow, we'll have Jack heal it. Wouldn't want your teachers calling DCFS." He laughed.

Prue frowned and looked down. That wasn't funny.

"Sorry." Nickolas apologized, seeming to immediately realize his mistake. "Did you find anything interesting in my room?" He changed the subject.

Prue looked up at him with wide eyes.

"I'm not angry." Nickolas told her. "There's not much for you to find... but you don't need to be sneaking around behind my back. If you've got questions, ask them."

Prue looked down at her hands in her lap. She glanced back up at Nickolas, who wore his usual charming grin as he looked back. His eyes almost looked loving, like Prue was his child or little sister, someone he wanted to teach and protect.

"You're part of our group now, Sweetheart. We're not going to keep secrets or treat you poorly, so long as you treat us with the same respect." Nickolas went on. "You must have questions."

"W-what was the glass sphere, with the stars in it?" Prue blurted before she could stop herself.

Nickolas smiled. "An experiment. I once knew these two witches. One could freeze things. One could encapsulate things into crystal, trapping them there forever. That was my magic, frozen, trapped, and then unfrozen. It didn't do anything special... Just looked cool."

Prue laughed. She could barely believe how calm and cool Nickolas was. Even after she had gone into his room without his permission and broken a lot of his things. "I'm sorry I broke it." She frowned. "And the other stuff. I don't even know what all of it was... I was just throwing things at Otto. I panicked."

"That's his fault, not yours." Nickolas reassured her.

Prue nodded. "What exactly is Jack doing to him?" She wondered.

Nickolas shook his head. "Something that will hopefully teach him a lesson."

"What if he comes after me again?" Prue frowned. Otto was going to be extremely angry at her for this. Not only had she fought back again, but he was facing what sounded like something painful, all because Nickolas and Jack were now standing up for her too. If Otto felt too ostracized from his group, and he blamed Prue, what would he have to lose? Why wouldn't he do something terrible to her?

"I don't think he will." Nickolas guessed. "But I suppose you'd fight back again, and Jack would punish him again... You're actually fairly competent with your powers considering how new they are to you. You've successfully defended yourself against him twice now."

Prue looked down and shook her head. "Hardly." She frowned.

"You did great, Prue." Nickolas persisted, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder. "Last time I had to stop you before you killed him."

"And this time you found me hiding in a cabinet. How do you think that would have ended if you hadn't come here when you did?" Prue stared up at him.

"Well, if he found you, I imagine you would have fought back again. You nearly killed him with a necklace. I'm sure you'd have thought of something. I'm proud of you, Prue. You fought well." Nickolas went on. "I can't say for sure, but I'm betting before long, Otto will fear you enough to leave you alone."

"Oh yeah?" Prue scoffed. "He seems less afraid of me now than he did the second I arrived here."

"He'll learn." Nickolas smiled.

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	11. Chapter 11

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CHAPTER 11

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"I'll meet you right back here after school." Nickolas spoke as he pulled his car up to the curb near the front door of the school. "Remember, we're trusting you, giving you a lot of space here. Don't make us regret giving you this freedom."

With a small exhale, Prue nodded and opened the car door. She wasn't sure yet if she was going to try to escape today. Maybe playing along like she was going to always come back willingly wouldn't be such a bad idea. She could get them to trust her loyalty enough to where they stopped expecting her to try to escape.

"Prue." Nickolas whispered, reaching out and gripping her arm in a firm but gentle hand.

She frowned and turned toward him, fighting the urge to yank her arm out of his grasp.

"Don't do anything stupid." He urged. His face looked very serious. She wasn't sure if he meant that to be a threat or just advice. She knew Jack would hurt her if she did anything to spoil their plans, but would Nickolas?

"I mean it, Sweetheart." He went on. "We're trusting you here... Things can be great for you, but you've got to cooperate. If you go against us, against Jack... It won't end well." He paused for a moment as he and Prue stared into each other's eyes. "Do you understand?" He finally asked.

Prue swallowed and breathed out a nervous breath. She nodded. "Yes." Her voice squeaked.

"Good girl." He squeezed her arm lightly and then let go.

Prue forced a smile and turned away, climbing out of the car and closing the door. She took a step away onto the sidewalk and then looked over her shoulder where the car was still sitting. Maybe Nickolas was going to wait around to make sure she didn't take off literally running the first chance she got. She offered him a small wave and another smile before turning around and walking as calmly as she could manage.

As soon as she wasn't facing him anymore, her smile fell. She was so scared of what this day would bring. It seemed it was to be a major turning point in her life either way. She could try to escape now, or she could let a huge opportunity pass by. Not trying to escape when she was basically set free sounded like a terrible mistake. To willingly go back to these three man, one who had kidnapped her, a second who very blatantly threatened to hurt her, and the third who had definitely tried to rape her at least once sounded like the stupidest thing she could do. However, if Jack's words were truthful, he would know if she tried to escape, and he'd make her suffer for it.

Of course Prue knew she'd rather go back with Nickolas and stay in his guest bedroom than have Jack force her to come back anyway. She'd rather go back without a fight than end up back there with the three of them pissed at her. But then, what if she didn't get another chance. What if somehow this was going to be her one and only chance? What if she had the chance to leave, let it pass... and never got another opportunity again?

Prue kept her eyes on the ground as she made her way into the school. For now, just getting inside could be her goal. Inside where Nickolas couldn't see her... She reached for the door, pausing for a half-second when she saw the bracelet on her wrist. Maybe it wasn't really a tracking device. Maybe Jack was lying... How could he know if she took it off? Maybe it had a heat sensor. Or maybe it was just a bracelet and he only hoped she'd believe him. Maybe if she walked straight through this school, out the back door, and to the police station, it would be as simple as that. She couldn't know for sure.

She shook her head, pulled the door open and walked into the hall. She figured she could give the bracelet to someone else... Maybe as long as they put it on quickly, it would buy her enough time to get far enough away before the bracelet suspected anything... Then if Jack was telling the truth, she could fool him, and if he wasn't... we, someone in the school would get a bracelet out of it.

Looking around the hallway, Prue spotted a smaller girl who could probably slip her hand through the bracelet, which fit rather snugly around Prue's slim wrist. It didn't have a clasp. She'd have to squeeze her hand through it to get it off. She could try to make friends with this girl, let her try on the bracelet, tell her she could keep it... and then take off as quickly as possible.

Prue stared at the girl. Maybe it would be cruel of her to get someone else potentially involved. What if Jack did something to her? Prue didn't want to end up getting some poor girl hurt or killed just for her own sake.

"Mary?" A familiar voice called from behind her. She turned toward the voice in time to see the boy from the day before walking toward her. "Or maybe not." He added with a shrug, most certainly remembering her claiming it wasn't her real name. "Do you have a minute to talk?"

Prue swallowed. "I don't... I need to get to my locker."

"Class doesn't start for twenty minutes." Derek shrugged. "The art teacher keeps her door unlocked but she's always out getting coffee until like ten minutes after the first bell. We can talk in there." He put his hand lightly on her shoulder and led her down the hall.

Prue felt panic in her chest. She wasn't ready for this conversation. Was she going to pretend like things were okay or spill the truth? She didn't know yet.

Part of her wanted to slap Derek's hand off of her arm and tell him to never speak to her again... Another part wanted to cling to him, tell him she'd been kidnapped by dangerous people and needed help. He seemed so nice, so caring... She wanted to tell him she was terrified and that she needed him to help her find a way to escape... but if she did tell him, what was he supposed to do about it? The people who kidnapped her had magic powers. What if Jack was listening to her somehow? He could appear the second she told Derek anything. She didn't know the extent of his powers.

"So what's going on?" Derek asked, closing the art room's door behind him and leaning his back against it.

Prue looked around the room. No one else was in here. A spot of dried red paint on the tile caught her eye. It reminded her of blood. She swallowed nervously. If Jack could hear her conversations, he probably wouldn't have let her come to school. Not after yesterday.

"Mary... Over here..." Derek frowned, trying to gain back her attention.

Prue looked over at him, still silently debating with herself whether or not to talk.

"I can help you..." Derek spoke. "I know something's wrong... I can tell. There's lots of people who can help... teachers, counselors, police... I mean, if you're in some kind of trouble... you said Mary's not your real name... Did that man you were with kidnap you?"

Prue inhaled a soft gasp, but still couldn't bring herself to speak. This boy had guessed pretty accurately. There's no way he could know the amount of danger she was truly in though. She wasn't just kidnapped... She was kidnapped by people with magic powers. People who could basically teleport themselves effortlessly. Even if she escaped, they could take her again.

"Listen..." Derek leaned down closer. "He's not here right now. You can tell me whatever you're hiding. He won't ever know. We don't even have to talk to a counselor or the cops or anything just yet. We can think it though... figure it out together."

Staring up at him, Prue blinked. Nickolas had said her grandmother had powers too... Maybe if she could just get back home, Grams could help her keep Jack or the others from reclaiming her.

"Does he hurt you?" Derek frowned.

Prue shook her head. "No..." She finally said, noticing her voice was tiny. Nickolas didn't hurt her... but Otto did, and Jack threatened to. Nickolas was hardly the problem in this whole mess. He wasn't helping much, as he was the one who took her, but he wasn't the one that she was terrified of.

"Did he kidnap you?" Derek went on with his line of question.

Prue felt her heart pounding in her chest. She closed her eyes, swallowed hard, and quickly nodded. She could feel tears in her still closed eyes as she began to shake, terrified that she had just made a horrible mistake.

"Okay..." Derek breathed. He sounded shocked. "Alright... Well... I can help you... What's your real name?"

Prue opened her eyes and stared up at him. She felt her lower-lip trembling. "I don't think I should tell you..." She finally whispered. "I-"

"No..." Derek interrupted. "Don't get scared now. You don't have to go back with him. You're safe here. Where are you from? What happened?"

"You won't believe me..." Prue whimpered, hugging her arms around herself.

"Yes I will." Derek assured her, putting his hand on her shoulder again. "I promise."

Through tears, Prue looked up into his eyes. "The man I was with before..." She hesitated, inhaling a deep breath before continuing. "He took me... from California. A-and... you have to believe me, but this will sound crazy..."

"Okay." Derek nodded as she stared down at her with wide eyes. "I'll believe you. I swear."

"I have..." She swallowed... "M-magic powers..." She laughed nervously, noticing Derek's eyes were huge. She looked less like he thought this secret was amazing and more like he thought she was crazy. "And so do they..."

"They?" He frowned.

"The men who took me. There's three of them." Prue told him. "The one who brought me here is the one who took me. The nicer one. His name's Nickolas. The second guy, Otto is awful. He attacked me, more than once. I think maybe he won't do it again, but he might. He's got to be really mad at me now, because I got him in trouble... I didn't even mean to."

"He attacked you?" Derek's eyebrows were furrowed.

Prue nodded and swallowed hard. "Yes." She whispered. "They were teaching me to use my powers, and I guess anger and fear helps trigger them. Nickolas wanted Otto to scare me to help me use my powers. But he wasn't just trying to scare me..." She paused and shook her head. "I fought back. I got my power to work in time to stop him... Then he tried again yesterday, and I used my power again."

"What power?" Nickolas frowned.

"I can move things with my mind..." Prue told him. "I'm not supposed to do it in public..."

"Okay... Well what do you want me to do to help? Should we go to the police? A counselor?" Derek asked.

"I don't know..." Prue whimpered. "You seriously believe me?" She stared into his eyes. Why on earth would this boy believe her story? She just told him she had magic powers. It was ridiculous. She barely believed it.

"I told you I would, didn't I?" Derek smiled slightly.

"I'm really scared of them." Prue confessed.

"I'm sure you are..." Derek noted.

"But I don't know what to do... because if I try to run, they'll find me. They have magic powers. It's not as simple as calling the police or running away." Prue explained. "I don't want to go back there... To risk upsetting them, or to risk being put in a position where I'm anywhere near Otto again. He was really violent, really strong... even without powers. I'm the most scared of him, even though there's another man who's really powerful and scary, He could probably do worse than Otto, but I don't think he'd do the things Otto tried to do. His name's Jack. He said he'd hurt me if I told anyone about magic and about them..."

"So why are you telling me then?" Derek frowned.

Prue frowned too. "What?"

"If they said they'd hurt you if you talked, why are you talking?" Derek spoke more slowly, with a strange sort of edge to his voice.

"B... because..." She felt her breaths coming quick as the art room started to feel very cold. She looked back up at Derek, whose face didn't look quite as kind and genuine anymore. "Y-you said you'd help me..."

"I said..." Derek started, speaking in slow, measured words as the room around them seemed to slowly fade away. "That I would hurt you if you spoke of any of this."

Prue's breaths were quick and panicked as she stared up at Derek, who was slowly but surely looking less and less like the kind boy she'd met yesterday and more and more like Jack.

With a frightened whimper, Prue shook her head and took a step back. How could she have been so foolish? Of course they weren't going to send her out into the world fully unsupervised... Of course they were watching...

"Consider this to have been a test, Prudence. You failed." Jack scowled down at her.

With a small whimper, Prue turned and started to run, only to feel what she could only describe as hot, searing pain shoot through her entire body. She screamed out a terrified, pained scream as she collapsed to the ground.

Prue wasn't sure what Jack had done to her, but all she could focus on was the stabbing, searing pain plaguing every inch of her being. She cried out a shaking scream as she balled her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will the pain to go away.

"You will suffer for your failure." Jack told her as he loomed over where she lay on the ground. She stared up at him and tried to focus on breathing. She'd never felt this degree of pain at any point in her life. She couldn't even bring herself to crawl away from him or try to use her power to move him away from her. She was almost paralyzed by the intense pain.

"W-" She could barely even manage to speak as she gasped for breaths and sobbed through the excruciating pain. Her entire body, inside and out felt like she was experiencing one huge, very intense muscle cramp, mixed with fire and ice and stabbing, pulling, pushing, crushing pain. "How..." She breathed in another series of quick, shaking breaths followed by an audible, shaking, pained moan.

"A minute of this pain will feel like an hour to you. The more you focus on it, the worse it will become. You've earned every second of it." Jack's voice was still calm, though she could tell he was angry.

"P-please." Prue gasped between breaths. "It hurts... p-ple-please... m-make it stop..."

Jack stared down at her, tilting his head to the side.

Prue's body shook with both pain and her frantic sobs.

"I'm sending you someplace Nickolas can't find you. This will get worse before it gets better." Jack explained, kneeling down next to her and placing his hand over her heart. "But you'll live. This is only pain. It doesn't damage your body in any lasting way. Perhaps I'll send a visitor down to you when the pain subsides."

Prue could only try to keep breathing as Jack pressed his hand down over her chest. What did he mean about sending a visitor? Who? And why? "V-visitor?" She choked out between her pained breaths.

"You've disobeyed me. You've done everything you were warned against. Why should I protect you when you haven't protected our secrets? Perhaps you deserve what Otto would do to you." Jack held his head high as he glared down at her.

Prue's lip trembled as she shook her head. She felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She wanted to grab Jack's hand and pry it off of her chest, but her hands were busy clawing uselessly at the ground in some unconscious attempt to alleviate her pain.

As she felt herself fading and reappearing in a strange, unfamiliar place, Prue screamed in pain and frustration. Somehow Jack had sent her away without accompanying her. His powers were clearly stronger than Nickolas's.

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	12. Chapter 12

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CHAPTER 12

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She was still on the ground, in a place that was fairly dark. She couldn't say if it was hot or cold here or somewhere in between. The pain she felt was too intense for her to notice anything as unimportant as the temperature.

"Help..." Prue sobbed as she curled herself into a ball, trying to move in any way to make the pain stop, or at least grow less intense. She'd never been in so much pain in her life. Not even close. "H-help me..." She whimpered, hoping Nickolas would somehow find her. She wondered if he would do anything though. He was loyal to Jack.

As she clenched her hands into fists and held them close to her body, she felt the cold metal of the bracelet around her wrist. She'd left it on so she could avoid Jack's wrath... and yet here she was.

More shaking sobs wracked her body as the pain only seemed to increase. She gritted her teeth together and glared at the bracelet, letting out a growling, passionate, shaking scream as she forcefully bent it with her eyes, tearing the metal in half and throwing it across the room without ever touching it.

"Help me..." She sobbed as soon as the bracelet was gone. She could barely think. "Hurts..." She whimpered. "It hurts..."

Prue squeezed her eyes shut as her body trembled uncontrollably. She knew she couldn't have possibly been here for much time at all. Even so, it felt like she could barely remember ever not being in excruciating pain. "Please..." She sobbed, not sure who she was trying to appeal to. As far as she knew, there was no one around but herself. "P-please help... Make it stop..." She gasped.

Prue intook a shocked breath as she saw a series of tiny blue-ish lights, followed by an unfamiliar man appearing across the room. She felt her eyes widen as she could almost swear her shaking breaths were making her lungs hurt worse.

"Prue?" The man asked as he took a step toward her.

Prue shook her head and tried to scramble back, but her arms and legs hurt so bad. She barely managed to move at all before collapsing back onto the ground. "S-stay away..." She whimpered, her voice shaking in the same way as it would if she were freezing cold.

"It's okay." The man continued. "I won't hurt you."

She tried to shrink away as he closed in on her, kneeling down and putting his hand over her heart just like Jack had.

"Please..." She sobbed, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Stay calm." The man's voice advised. He sounded nice, but she knew better than to fall for it this time. "I'm going to help you."

Prue shook her head and somehow managed to bring her hands up to grip the man's arm, but he held his hand firmly in place, hovering over her heart. She kept her eyes closed, scared to look at him, scared to try to judge if he was casting some spell to hurt her worse, or if he was like Otto.

"Please let me go..." Her voice still shook as she squeezed the man's arm tighter and shrunk down. She almost felt like the pain was less intense now. She could focus more on speaking, on moving her arms and hands to defend herself. Even so, she didn't trust this man. Maybe he was doing something to make the pain stop... but why? So he could delight in hurting her in his own way? So he could somehow trick her? "Don't hurt me anymore. Please... I j-just want to go home."

"You can trust me. I wouldn't ever hurt you, Prue." The man persisted.

Prue felt her lip trembling as she tried to hold back her tears. She was so scared, and certainly had no reason to trust this man. She felt tears stinging at her eyes as her chest grew tight. The stranger was still working whatever magic he had to make her pain go away, but she was still reluctant to trust him. Maybe he only wanted the pain to stop so Jack could send Otto down here. Maybe Otto wouldn't enjoy assaulting her as much if she was in so much pain she could barely register the event. Maybe that wouldn't be sadistic enough for him.

"Don't let Otto come back..." She whimpered, finally failing to hold back her sobs. "Don't do what Otto tried to do..."

Her sobs increased as her physical pain slowly dissolved.

"Shh..." The stranger's soothing voice spoke. "You're okay now. I won't do anything to you. I'm here to help."

Prue's sobs slowly died down and were replaced by shaking breaths as she opened her eyes and looked up at the man hovering over her. He had a kind face... but so did Derek. She wondered if Derek even existed. How much of that experience had been a trick? If Jack could make himself look like Derek... could Otto make himself look like this man?

"W-what did you do?" Prue whispered, somewhat in shock over the intense pain suddenly being entirely gone.

"I used my power to take away your pain." The man told her. "I know... This is all still new to you..."

"Who are you?" Prue spoke as she crawled away from the stranger. She looked around the room she found herself in. It looked to be a rather plain cell, seemingly made out of cinder blocks... but there was no door. She was really getting sick of that... Being trapped places only magical people with the power of teleportation could get in and out of.

"My name's Leo. I was sent to protect you, to help you." The man told her. "Did they put any spell over you to keep you in this room?"

Prue stared silently. This could be another trap. She shouldn't tell this man anything. It could be Jack in disguise again, testing her loyalty. Maybe he'd hurt her even worse if she talked again.

Leo's eyes scanned the room, noticing the broken bracelet on the ground. He nodded toward it and then looked back at Prue. "I'd guess this is why I couldn't find you before."

Prue frowned. "What are you talking about?" She whispered.

"This bracelet kept me from being able to sense your location." Leo explained.

"I wasn't wearing it until more recently." Prue pouted. "Why were you trying to find me? Why couldn't you find me before if the bracelet kept you from finding me? I didn't have it on at first... I went weeks without it..."

"They must have cast a spell before the bracelet, either on you or the locations where they kept you. Some spells wear off. The bracelet was likely a more long-term solution for them. I've been trying to find you to take you home. Did they hurt you?" He asked.

Prue crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him. Of course they hurt her. Did he not pay attention just now? "Who are you though?" She asked. "Why have you been trying to find me?"

He exhaled. "It's complicated... but long story short, I'm supposed to protect you... I wasn't planning on being so involved this early. You weren't meant to have your powers until about ten years from now." He paused, hesitating. "Maybe that's more information that you were really meant to know... Anyway, I can take you home... Or I can try at least." He stepped toward her.

"No!" Prue gasped, backing against the wall as she dragged herself up to her feet. "No..." She repeated in a more calm voice, shaking her head as she inhaled and exhaled nervously.

"I'll take you home, Prue." Leo repeated. "You're not safe here."

"No..." Prue shook her head again. If she agreed to this, Jack would reappear and hurt her. He'd been pretty clear before that the whole school thing was a test, and that she had failed it... She swallowed as she thought about that... if he could make her believe she was at a school, with other students who weren't really there... Did Nickolas and Otto even exist? Had it all been Jack the whole time? Was she even far from home?

"Prue..." Leo frowned at her. He looked disappointed, but also somehow sad. "You've got to trust me. I know you don't know me... and this whole situation is scary, but you've got to trust me if you want to get out of here."

Prue felt her lower lip trembling again as tears stung at her eyes. She shook her head as she shrunk down against the wall. She didn't trust him. She didn't trust anyone anymore. Not knowing that Jack could make himself look however he wanted... Not after the last person to be kind and say he would help her wasn't even real.

Leo closed his eyes for a moment and exhaled. "Okay... I'm sorry for this..."

Prue stared at him with wide eyes. She felt her breaths increase as she wondered what he was apologizing for. She didn't have to wonder for long though. He quickly stepped toward her, grabbing her in his arms and pulling her close against his chest.

Prue screamed a loud, startled cry. "Get off of me!" She begged. She gasped and felt herself fall to her knees as she struggled against him, and as he disappeared in a cloud of blue, shimmering lights.

Exhaling a panicked breath, Prue remained on the floor. She looked around herself. She was alone again.

Prue grimaced as she saw the lights again and Leo reappeared several steps away.

"Stay away from me..." She whimpered, dragging herself to her feet and backing away from him again.

"They must have cast a spell on you, or possibly the room, to prevent white lighters from orbing you out of here." Leo noted with a frown.

Prue stared across the small space at him. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"I'm going to have to leave you here long enough to try to work out how to get you out... I'll see if your grandmother has any ideas." Leo told her.

"My grandmother?" Prue frowned. Did Leo know her? She shook her head. "Please don't hurt her..." Prue begged.

"Prue." Leo stared back. "I won't. I'm on your side. Whitelighters protect witches, like yourself. From demons, like the people who brought you here."

"Demons?" Prue gasped.

Leo nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can. If anything happens, call my name. I'll try to hear you. It was hard to find you, so I might not respond right away, but I'll try to be listening. Your voice was very weak before. I think I only heard you because you were in so much pain. Your cries for help were louder, but still muffled."

Prue swallowed, still unsure if she should trust him.

"I'll bet your grandmother can brew a potion to solve this. If she can't do so right away, I'll come back to check on you at least." Leo explained.

Without another word, he disappeared in another cloud of lights, leaving Prue all alone once again.

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	13. Chapter 13

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CHAPTER 13

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Shortly after Leo left, Prue stood staring toward where the man had stood in the small room. His teleportation seemed different than Nickolas's. When Nickolas faded in and out of locations, it seemed like his body was for a split second a sort of weird mirage. Leo's was different. His into and exit was accompanied by tiny little glowing spheres. She figured either it meant he was being honest - that he was different than the others... Or Jack was trying to trick her, that Whitelighters did exist, and Jack was trying to be accurate.

As Prue thought about the situation, wondering if she should go with Leo if he came back or not as she stared ahead with a frown, another figure began fading into view.

She held her breath as she stared at the person until he was fully visible. She was mostly relieved to see that it was Nickolas... but she was still not sure how he would react to what she had done. He had made it pretty clear that she wasn't supposed to be trying to leave or telling anyone out in the world about magic or her situation. Jack was clearly angry about this... Maybe Nickolas was too. Maybe the only reason why he hadn't hurt her yet was because she hadn't disobeyed him to this degree until now. Maybe this was going to be the last straw for him. Maybe he wouldn't play nice with her anymore.

She frowned and stared at him. In addition to being nervous about his response to this, she was also angry at him for playing a part in tricking her - again... and she was worried by the fact that Jack had told her Nickolas wouldn't be able to find her... and yet here he was. Was it really even him? Or was this another trick...?

"Prudence..." Nickolas frowned and shook his head as he stared back at her. "What did you do, baby?"

Prue scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't call me that." She growled.

Nickolas closed his eyes and exhaled. He opened them again and looked her up and down. "Are you alright?" He asked, as though the question itself was a burden.

"Why would you care?" Prue scoffed. "How could you do this to me? How could you pretend like you're on my side and then take part in that? You guys tricked me... Was the school ever real? Was Derek real? Did we ever even go outside? How much of anything over the past weeks even existed?"

"The school was real. The casino was real. Jack didn't decide to test your loyalty with his tricks until today. The boy you were talking to was real... The first day." Nickolas explained.

Prue felt her lower lip tremble. "Did you kill him?" She whispered.

Nickolas shook his head. "We don't make a habit of killing people left and right. It draws unwanted attention. Did Jack hurt you?" He changed the subject.

"Of course he did, you asshole!" Prue screamed, wishing she could find something in the room to hurl at his face with her telekinesis.

Nickolas nodded as he looked her up and down again. "Nothing lasting though?" He frowned. "Perhaps you have some sort of healing or shield power..."

Prue swallowed nervously. If Leo really was an ally, she certainly didn't want Nickolas to find out he had been here.

Nickolas narrowed his eyes as he continued staring. "You're going to be very dangerous as your powers grow, Prue. You're so small. You look so innocent and fragile... but your powers will be grand, and even more so when the enemy looks at you and sees a sweet, harmless little girl."

"How did you find me here?" Prue finally asked. "Jack said you wouldn't be able to find me..."

Nickolas shook his head. "Jack may be powerful, but I've got my ways. Did you think I was going to send you out in the world without a way to find you again?"

"Are you tracking me too?" Prue frowned.

"Not constantly, but I did cast a spell so I'd be able to find you if I needed to." Nickolas explained. "I knew Jack would be upset when you did what you did... I never wanted him to hurt you, Prue."

"Can you take me back to the apartment now?" Prue asked, feeling impatient and annoyed.

Nickolas shook his head. "I can't."

Prue felt her shoulders slump. "Why not?"

"I don't undermine Jack." Nickolas told her. "Hopefully you'll be allowed back under my watch when the time comes, and you'll learn from this."

"Y-you're just going to leave me here?!" Prue stammered.

"I can't go above Jack's orders, Prue. You made a mistake, and you've got to receive punishment for it." Nickolas went on, stepping toward her.

Prue shook her head. "No. No, I don't. I didn't make a mistake. You guys kidnapped me, and I tried to get someone to help me. That's not a mistake. I'd be stupid to stay here willingly!"

"Honey, it was much more stupid to deliberately disobey someone who could kill you with a snap of his fingers." Nickolas frowned.

"Why did you even come here?" Prue growled, clenching her hands into fists. "You have to get me out of here.. You have to..."

"I don't have to." Nickolas disagreed. "And if I did, you'd only face more punishment. As would I."

"So you're powerless. So much for using your powers however you want without being controlled. Why should I believe you when you say staying here would mean I could live how I want and use my powers how I want? You can't even do that." Prue glared.

Nickolas glared back. "I think you're forgetting your place here, Prue. You're being very disrespectful."

"I don't care!" She screamed, feeling anger, betrayal, and fear bubbling up inside her. "You're disrespecting me too! Jack said he was going to send someone down here later... And he said you wouldn't be able to find me, so that only leaves Otto. He's going to send Otto down here, and if you don't help me get out, what do you think Otto's gonna do? If you don't help me get out of here, I'll hate you forever... I'll never use my powers for you or your terrible friends... I'll never be on your side. My grandmother's not bad. You are!"

With an exhale and a roll of his eyes, Nickolas shook his head and held out his hand. A small knife appeared in his grip and he took another step toward her.

Prue's mouth snapped shut as she swallowed and stared at the knife.

"I just want to try something." Nickolas spoke in a calm voice as he stalked toward her. "I'm still very curious as to how you were able to bypass Jack's power. He's used that on me before... It's not something you can just ignore, and I doubt he would have let you get away with such a short time suffering through it. You've got to have some kind of healing power..."

Prue's breaths increased as she backed up against the wall. "Nickolas, no..." She gasped, staring at the knife.

"I'll just make a small cut." Nickolas told her, reaching out toward her hand.

She pulled her arm back and stumbled backward along the wall, trying to distance herself from him.

"Come on, Prue. You lived through Jack's power... This'll be nothing. Aren't you curious about the extent of your powers?" Nickolas wondered.

"I don't have a healing power... Remember when Otto scratched me? I didn't heal myself... I couldn't." Prue gasped.

"We got Jack's help pretty quick that time." Nickolas shrugged.

Prue shook her head and blinked back tears. "Don't, Nickolas." She demanded, wondering if she was going to have to use her power against him. For some reason, she felt scared to do that. He was the closest thing to a friend she had here... What if she used her power and turned him against her too?

Nickolas had backed her into a corner by now. "Don't get upset." He frowned, reaching out with a quick hand and grabbing her arm. "Let me see your palm."

"No!" Prue yanked at her arm, which only caused him to grip her harder. She squeezed her hand into a fist so he wouldn't have access to her palm.

"I won't hurt you, Prue." Nickolas stared down at her as though she was being irrational.

"No, you just want to cut me with a knife..." She breathed, pulling at her arm again. "If that blade comes anywhere near me..." She started, not sure if she should outright threaten to turn the knife on him with her power.

Nickolas shook his head and forced a smile, moving his grip down to her hand and trying to pry her fingers open with his thumb.

As he squeezed her hand in his fist, holding her fingers open as much as he could, he moved the knife toward her palm.

Prue gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes, telekinetically throwing the knife across the room. With her frightened breaths shaking in her chest, she looked at the knife on the floor, and then back at Nickolas. "Keep it away from me." She threatened.

Nickolas looked pretty pissed as he glared down at her.

The longer he stared angrily down at her, the more frightened Prue began to feel. She hadn't meant to make him mad... She just didn't want him cutting her. What was she supposed to do? Just let him do it?

Prue flinched and brought her hands up in defense as he closed in on her, standing so close she could feel his body heat. "I..." She breathed, unsure of what to say.

Nickolas shook his head as he brought his hand up to her face, resting it carefully against her cheek. She stared nervously back, trying to read his eyes as he moved his thumb carefully over her skin. She didn't see the same thing she'd seen in Otto's eyes. He didn't look angry or lustful. But Nickolas's eyes never looked cruel or scary. They were beautiful, enticing. They made her want to trust him.

"I'm sorry..." Prue gasped, not totally sure what she was apologizing for. "W-will you please get me out of here?" She breathed. "I'm really scared..." She added in a tiny, shaking whisper. "He's gonna send Otto down here..."

Nickolas frowned. "I cannot go against him, Prue. I'm sorry. This is the only way. You've got to face the consequence, but you'll be okay. You can learn from this, grow from it... and make better choices in the future."

Prue shook her head as tears sprung to her eyes. "Y-you're just going to leave me here? You're going to let Otto-" Her breath caught in her throat as she choked out a sob and squeezed her tear-filled eyes shut.

"Prue, baby..." Nickolas's voice as gentle as he put his fingers under her chin and tilted her face up so she was looking into his eyes again. "Did Jack specifically say Otto was going to come here and hurt you?" He wondered.

Prue sniffed back tears and shook her head. "Um..." She tried to think back to what Jack had said. She was in so much pain during that speech. She couldn't quite remember. She knew he said something about Otto. The pain was so great. She couldn't remember his exact words.

"Jack wouldn't do anything that's going to leave lasting damage. He's punishing you, but he doesn't want you to get seriously hurt. I know he's scary and harsh, but Jack is a sort of paternal figure. He's just helping you learn." Nickolas explained.

Prue shook her head. "You know what Otto's gonna do..." She sniffed. "Please take me with you... Or at least stay here."

"I can't do either of those things, Sweetheart. I'm not supposed to be here." Nickolas reminded her. "I just came to make sure you're alright."

"But I'm not alright!" Prue urged. "He said he was going to send someone here later. And he said something about Otto... Like, that I deserved whatever he'd do to me... he said that... and about sending someone here. If it's not Otto, then who?"

Nickolas shrugged. "I don't know, Prue, but I can't just undermine him. Things would end up worse for both of us. If Otto shows up, use your power against him. You've done it before. You're strong enough to beat him."

Prue shook her head. She'd barely escaped from him last time, or the time before, and if he wasn't wearing a necklace again, she couldn't use the same method of defense. Last time Otto had cornered her, she had escaped, but if Nickolas hadn't shown up when he did, it would have been temporary. She was trapped in a tiny room. There was no where to hide. Nothing to throw at the man either.

"Look at me." Nickolas spoke in a calm voice.

Prue bit her lip in an effort to get it to stop trembling. She didn't want to start crying. She was stronger than that... But she was so scared, and felt legitimately betrayed by Nickolas. Why did she think he was on her side? How stupid was she? He kidnapped her. She wouldn't be here if it weren't for him.

"Sweetheart, look at me." Nickolas said again.

With an exhale and a pout on her lips, Prue stared up into his eyes. He was leaning down so close. If he hadn't already passed up on countless opportunities to take advantage of her being alone and virtually helpless, she would have feared he might do something. No matter how disappointed she felt that he wasn't going to help her get out of here, she at least was fairly confident he wouldn't sexually assault her... Of course, he wasn't going to stop Otto from doing so...

"You're going to be fine. This is necessary." Nickolas spoke, staring into her eyes. "As long as you follow the rules from this point on, nothing like this will happen again. I know you're scared, but this is your own doing. You betrayed us."

She shook her head again and felt her breaths becoming quick. She was starting to fully panic. He couldn't just leave her here. He couldn't let Otto come in here and do whatever he wanted. He just couldn't.

"Prue, breathe..." Nickolas spoke, rubbing his hand carefully over her arm. "Calm, deep breaths, Sweetheart. You have powers. No one can hurt you if you use them right. It worked against me, didn't it? You didn't want me to cut your hand. You used your powers."

"B-because you gave up... You didn't even try again..." Prue gasped, feeling her chest tightening in panic. "Jack's gonna send Otto here, and he's so strong, and violent... I won't be able to stop him..."

Nickolas took her hands in his. "I believe in you, Prue. I believe in your ability to use your power to protect yourself. You're going to be okay. Just use your power. I've seen you do it before... If Jack does send Otto down here, and he attacks you, use your power. That's what it's for... To protect you when you need it."

Prue swallowed and inhaled a deep breath. It didn't seem like Nickolas was going to help her out this time. There was no convincing him. She was on her own this time.

He put one of his hands under her chin again as he squeezed her other hand around one of hers. "I don't think he'll hurt you, Prue." He let go of her and walked across the room toward the knife she'd thrown there. He picked it up and looked down at it.

"Will you leave the knife here?" Prue asked. It was the least he could do.

Nickolas shook his head. "Your powers can do much more damage than a knife."

With that, he disappeared, leaving Prue all alone once again.

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	14. Chapter 14

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CHAPTER 14

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Now that Prue was by herself, and not in excruciating pain, she could finally get a better read on the room she found herself in. It was so small, and so bare. There was nothing obvious for her to work with... but she had to find a way out.

The walls were cinder blocks, which were cemented very securely in place. It hadn't taken her long to learn that, as as soon as Nickolas left, Prue had immediately felt around the perimeter of the space, trying to find any loose brick... There weren't any. She tried staring at the bricks, hoping she could move them with her mind... but they were securely in place.

The ceiling, if there was one, was very high up off the ground. In the darkness, Prue couldn't see where the walls ended. They just seemed to go up forever until they faded into darkness.

Besides for the broken bracelet on the hard, cement floor, there was nothing else in the room. Nothing to fight back with if she needed to do so... Nowhere to sit or lie down that wasn't incredibly uncomfortable, no windows... Nothing. Just tall cinder block walls and a hard, flat floor. It was practically like being inside a large concrete box.

She paced around, wondering if Leo was genuine. She trusted Nickolas more, but Nickolas was the one who kidnapped her. Maybe that didn't make sense. Maybe it was just because she knew him better. She'd spent more time with Nickolas. She knew he hadn't hurt her in the few weeks she'd been here. Leo had only had one chance to prove himself, and while he hadn't done anything bad to her, she really only had that one instance to judge him by. Of course, Leo had tried to get her out of here. Nickolas had refused.

Leo could have easily been another trick from Jack though. Maybe if Prue had jumped at the opportunity to let the man take her away from here, Jack would have been even more angry. Maybe the fact that she hadn't willingly gone with Leo was the only reason she was being left alone for the time being. How many tests would Jack put her through though, and what purpose would this one serve? Punishing her for disloyalty and testing her loyalty again so soon made no sense. Jack would actually be an idiot to assume she wouldn't take a risk on someone who might save her while whatever pain spell he'd cast on her was torturing her so excruciatingly. In that moment, she hadn't had anything to lose.

Prue turned back toward one of the walls again, placing her hands on a brick higher than the rows she'd already tested. She pressed against the cold, smooth surface. It didn't budge. Just like all of the others.

As she turned around, a gasp caught in her throat. Standing behind her, across the small room, was Otto.

Prue stared silently at him as he stared silently back. He held his hand in front of him, palm up, but closed, as though he was holding something in his fist. She couldn't see what though. Her eyes wandered to his other hand. Empty. At least he hadn't brought anything to cover her eyes or tie her hands this time... but she was still terrified.

"You pissed off Jack, huh?" Otto chuckled, taking a step toward her.

Prue was already against the wall. She couldn't back away any further. Even so, she shrunk down as Otto took another step opening his hand, but not in such a way where she could see what he was holding.

Prue stared at his hand as he moved closer. What did he have in his palm? It had to be something small. She looked up toward Otto's eyes. She could see in them that he was glad she was showing interest in whatever he held. It made Prue want to look away and tell him she didn't give a damn what it was. But she did want to know. Was it something dangerous? What could it possibly do being so small? But why would Otto bring anything harmless in here with him?

She didn't have to really wonder for long. Otto was close enough now. He moved his hand between him and her, in front of his chest, but at her eye level. Prue leaned forward and craned her neck, just in time for Otto to bend down and blow on his hand.

Prue coughed and stumbled back as some sort of powder was blown right into her eyes. Some of it had made it into her mouth as well, and was hurting her throat. She kept her eyes shut as she used her hands to try to wipe the powder away from her face. She continued coughing as she used one hand to feel along the wall until she had backed herself into a corner.

Finally, she blinked her eyes open, trying to ignore the burning pain. She couldn't see. A frightened whimper escaped her lips as she pressed herself against the wall and blinked again. She still couldn't see. She opened her mouth to try to say something, but her throat felt so dry. She couldn't seem to find her voice.

As Prue gasped, bringing her hand up to her throat and trying to speak, she coughed and squeezed her eyes shut again. Her eyes still stung. She could feel tears rolling down her cheeks. She felt panic in her chest. What was she supposed to do now? Not only was she locked in a tiny, enclosed space with someone who had already tried to rape her once... but she couldn't even see. She didn't know where in the small room he was... She couldn't call for help or ask him to please leave her alone. How could she possibly keep him from hurting her again?

"Don't panic, sweet girl." Otto's voice was very close. She felt his hands on her arms, tried to scream for him to get off of her, but still couldn't speak. Her throat burned and her lungs ached from her attempted scream. She couldn't get a sound out besides a tiny, panicked whimper."You'll be alright. It's temporary... so you don't try to strangle me again... and so I don't have to listen to you bitch about me hurting you the whole time."

Prue felt a sob rise in her throat as she blindly pushed at his hands and shrunk down. How was she even going to call out to Leo now? She didn't know whether to trust the man or not, but he had to be better than this.

"I am going to hurt you this time." Otto emphasized. "Very purposefully."

Prue shook her head and gritted her teeth as Otto grabbed her arms again, squeezing painfully in a grip she knew he wasn't going to let go.

"Jack told me what you did. You deserve to suffer for that alone. Plus, I haven't forgotten our last interactions. I've been thinking about you this whole time." He went on. "My anger has been growing. As has my lust. I've wanted you since the second I first saw you. The only thing stopping me from having you when Nickolas first brought you into that cell was not knowing the strength of your power, not knowing if you'd wake up and kill me."

Prue's heart pounded in her chest as she tried to scream and pry his hands off of her. She could do neither. She felt panic, fear, pain, and helplessness as he crushed her against the cold cinder block wall behind her.

"But you're not that strong. You haven't got a hold on your powers, and taking them from you is as simple as taking away your ability to see. If I'd have known, I would have gone into that cell immediately and taken all that I wanted while you were lying there like a lifeless little doll." Otto continued, moving his hands over her body, squeezing and groping. "Of course, I think you're gonna be more fun this way. Not that you wouldn't have been great passed out and drugged, but I really don't mind a little fight in a girl."

She shook her head and shoved her hands against his chest. Her heart was pounding so hard she could swear it might leap out of her chest.

"You recover fast though, girly. Jack's spell wore off already? I expected you to still be on the floor in here, writhing in pain." Jack spoke as he put his hand on her throat and held her against the wall.

Prue whimpered and turned her head to the side as she felt his mouth on hers. She heard a growl in his throat as he grabbed her harder, holding her more securely in place as he tried again, pressing his lips against hers and kissing her.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her hands into fists as his kiss continued. She couldn't move her face away, and his grip around her neck felt like it was tightening.

Finally, he stopped and let go of her neck in favor of gripping her button-up t-shirt. He grabbed one side in each hand and tore it open in one quick motion.

Prue heard several buttons scatter on the ground as her chest and stomach immediately felt cold and vulnerable. She turned sightlessly away and hugged her arms around herself, but Otto was quick to catch her. He pulled her back by her arm, slamming her against the wall again.

As Otto put one hand on her waist and the other on her back, Prue whimpered and tried once again to pull away. "Hold still, witch." He growled, pressing his hands hard against her skin. He groped painfully up to her breasts squeezing them over her bra as he leaned close.

"Nickolas knew I was going to do this last time, and the time before." Otto told her. "I feel like you kind of see him as a hero, a protector... but I just wanted you to know. He knew, and he didn't stop me. You'll notice the first time, he only came downstairs once you were trying to fucking kill me." He growled, crushing her breasts with rough hands as his anger seemed to grow. "And he has the power to cast a spell to keep me out of his apartment. He knew what I wanted, knew you'd be left alone... and he didn't cast it. He wanted me to come up there. He keeps saving you, trying to earn your trust, when he allowed you to be put into a position where you needed saving... He lets this stuff happen, then takes the credit for showing up at the last minute. He's not saving you this time though, girly. I'm finally going to get what I want."

Prue shook her head and choked out a sob.

"Maybe he didn't want me to actually fuck you." Otto whispered as he pulled her close, pushing a hand up under her bra as he ran his other hand around to her back and down, struggling to shove it down into her jeans. "Maybe it's not what he preferred. It's possible that he really does feel like I shouldn't have rough, forced sex with the little teenaged girl he kidnapped. It's possible." The man went on, breathing into her ear. "But he knew what I wanted, and he invited me to go for it. That's how he tricks you, little girl... He lets me do his dirty work. Allows me to be pretty fucking harsh if it suits his plan." Otto laughed. "I mean, really... He wanted someone to scare you so your fear would help you with your powers... and he chose me? He knows how I am. He knew what kind of fear I had to offer."

Prue felt another silent scream in her throat as she shoved her hands against Otto's chest and squirmed under him. He was so strong. She felt tears running down her cheeks as she wished she could be literally anywhere but here. Prue couldn't try to use her power, not when she couldn't see anything in order to focus on it enough to make it move. She couldn't even beg him to stop... Not that he would listen if she could... but being unable to even plead her case was beyond frustrating.

"You trying to say something, little doll?" Otto mocked, pushing his arm down across her throat so that she was pinned against the wall. "Hmm... I just can't tell what you're trying to say. Are you saying..." He paused, putting his fingers on her chest and walking them slowly down, between her breasts, over her stomach, and down to the button on her jeans. "You want me to..." He paused his mocking words again as he grabbed the front of her pants in his hand, pulling her hips forward. "Push my big, strong hand into your little panties...?" He started sliding his hand down, forcing his fingers between the thick material of her jeans and her underwear.

Prue whimpered a shaking breath and shook her head as she reached down toward his hand, grasping at it and his arm and trying to pull it away from her. He was so strong, and her fighting only seemed to make him put more force into everything he was doing. His arm across her throat pressed down harder so that she could barely breathe. He shoved his other hand with more force down into her pants so that his fingers brushed across the front of her panties. As she struggled to inhale with his arm pressing painfully across her throat, Prue abandoned her attempt to keep his hand out of her pants and reached for his arm instead. She needed first and foremost to stay alive.

"I don't hear you saying no..." Otto laughed, moving his arm off of her throat so he could grab at her chest again. He shoved his hand roughly up under her bra and pressed painfully against her breast. "You've got nice little tits, Doll. Small, but nice. Soft, warm... Can't wait to feel the rest of you." He breathed against her neck as his fingers continued to move between her jeans and panties.

Prue squeezed her hands into fists as she tried to shrink down away from her attacker's touch. He was so forceful, so rough. As she felt his hand squeezing painfully at her breast and the fingers on his other hand being forced down the front of her pants, starting to find their way back up enough to side down between her underwear and her skin, Prue bit back a sob and held her breath. She figured she might as well give this her all, fight back as hard as she could. After all, how could this get much worse?

So she squeezed her fist tighter and did her best to blindly aim for the man's face, slamming her fist so hard against his jaw that it felt like her fingers might be broken. She did the same thing with her other hand and slammed her knee up between Otto's legs.

It seemed to throw him off very slightly, but it wasn't enough... Not that she had anywhere to run anyway. As soon as she'd hit him, she felt him hit her back, slamming his hand against the side of her face and letting her fall to the ground.

Prue sightlessly crawled away, ignoring the pain from his harsh hand. She felt him grabbing her again within seconds, hauling her up and slamming her face-first against the wall. He twisted her arm back behind her as she tried to scream. It hurt so bad. He kept twisting.

Tears streamed down Prue's face as he pushed her harder against the wall and further twisted her arm behind her.

"You stupid bitch." Otto growled, pressing his body against hers to further pin her against the wall. He forced his hand between the wall and her hips, gripping at the button of her jeans and tearing forcefully at it.

Prue sobbed as she tried to grab his hand. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to be in her own bedroom, with Grams downstairs, ready to protect her from anyone or anything in the world. She just wanted to be safe.

Prue felt light-headed as Otto held her against the wall and tugged at her jeans. He was still holding tight to her arm with his other hand. When he finally let go, it was only in an attempt to further disrobe her, pulling at her pants with both hands now.

As Prue's breaths increased and she further retreated into her own thoughts, desperately wanting, needing to not be here, she started to feel faint.

Then suddenly, she could hear her own voice, screaming, so loudly, with so much panic, pain, and fear. "Stop!" She blinked and she could see again. But she wasn't in the closed in room with Otto. She was in her bedroom. Just standing there, panting, feeling confused and not all there. Was she really here? Was she imagining things? Had she passed out? Was it a dream? It felt like a dream. Could she have passed out so quickly? She felt so confused.

"Prue!?" She heard her grandmother's voice, but Prue's ears were ringing slightly and her chest felt cold. She felt so confused and uncertain.

She looked around herself, blinking and trying to control her frantic breaths. Was this real? Was that really Grams's voice? Or was she dreaming? Maybe she was dying... Had Otto started choking her again? Had he accidentally strangled her?

"Grams?!" Prue shouted in a shaking, uncertain voice. "L-Leo?" She whimpered. She looked down at herself. Her shirt was still unbuttoned. So were her jeans. But her arm didn't hurt anymore. Neither did her jaw where Otto had just hit her. She couldn't really feel much of anything one way or another beyond fear and confusion. Physically, she wasn't in pain. She wasn't cold or hot... She was just there, not really feeling, not really understanding how she got there... This couldn't be real.

"Prue!?" Grams's voice shouted. Her voice sounded like it was coming from the attic.

Prue looked up toward the attic briefly and then tried to step forward, to make her way toward her grandmother's voice. But her feet felt firmly planted. She couldn't bring herself to move. She could only stand here, in one spot. But her grandmother seemed to have heard her calling for her... The older woman's own shout seemed an awful lot like a response to Prue's.

"Grams?" She whispered, looking around herself. The now-familiar sight of small glowing blue lights filled a space across the room and the man she now recognized as Leo appeared. He looked worried.

"Prue?" He sounded confused as he stared at her.

She still felt like she couldn't tell if this was real or not. She felt so strange, like only half of her was here. Had she somehow taken her mind home without her body? She looked down at herself again, and then up at her bedroom door as Grams opened it.

"Prue!" The older woman gasped, rushing toward her and reaching out for a hug.

"Penny, I think it's her astral projection." Leo's far-away-sounding voice noted.

Prue didn't know what that meant. She only cared that her grandmother was here. She could finally hug the woman and tell her how much she appreciated everything about her. She didn't care if Grams took her powers. If her magic was going to lead to things like what she had just gone through, she didn't want them.

She felt tears in her eyes as she opened her arms to hug the woman, but as soon as she was close enough, Prue felt like even less of herself was physically there. She gasped and blinked as she realized she was no longer at home. Had she ever really been there?

She was lying on the ground, on her back, and her vision and voice were gone again. She once again felt the pain from Otto hitting and grabbing her. Her arm throbbed where he had twisted it so roughly... But he wasn't hurting her now. His hands were actually gentle, one on her arm and the other at her throat, almost as though checking for a pulse.

Prue remained still, hoping doing so would keep Otto from hurting her again.

"You alright, girly?" Otto's voice conveyed a frown, though she couldn't see why he would care if she was okay. He was in the middle of assaulting her. He had just hit her and possibly broken her arm. He had been in the process of tearing her clothes off. "I think you passed out, little doll." He noted, placing a hand on the side of her face and the other on her stomach, still exposed from when he had torn her shirt open.

Prue closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled deeply. She still felt odd. She moved her hands down to her hips, finding her jeans were still pulled up for the most part. At least he hadn't gone on doing what he was doing after she fainted. Of course, that didn't mean he was finished with her.

"Baby, I know I didn't hit you that hard." He laughed, climbing on top of her. She felt his hands over her ribs, moving slowly up toward her breasts, his fingers pushing her bra up.

Prue shook her head and brought her own hands up to her chest, trying to hold her bra in place. Otto quickly grabbed at her wrists, pinning both together and crushing them harshly against the ground. His free hand slid up under her bra and pawed at her breasts again as his weight pinned down her legs.

"You've got a lot of fight in you, witch. I mean, it barely fazes me... but damn it, I can tell you're trying." He chuckled, squeezing her breast painfully, rubbing his thumb back and forth over her nipple.

Tugging uselessly at her arms, Prue started to cry again. She couldn't throw him off her, couldn't use her hands to try to push him away... She felt so helpless, so degraded, so humiliated, and in so much pain. She wanted to scream, but couldn't even do that.

Prue sobbed harder and harder as her body felt more and more exhausted. She couldn't move. Otto was too strong, and so heavy. She was entirely trapped. There was absolutely no way for her to free herself, and Otto wasn't about to take pity on her and stop. If anything, his hands were becoming more rough.

As he crushed her arms together against the floor with one hand, he gripped the center of her bra in his other hand, sliding it up over her breasts and then grabbing and squeezing painfully. Otto made a sick moaning noise as he squeezed her breast in his hard, warm hand. "You're so hot." He panted.

Prue tried to shrink back against the ground, but she was pinned so firmly in place. She couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't even use her one defense. She had actual magic powers and still couldn't defend herself.

As she yanked at her arms, desperately trying to free them while Otto abandoned groping her chest and moved his hand back down toward her pants, Prue suddenly felt another presence in the room.

"Get off of her, you grotesque monster!" Her grandmother's stern, angry voice demanded.

Otto flinched and made a growling sound as he climbed to his feet, leaving Prue lying on the ground below. She quickly reached down and pulled her bra back down as she blindly crawled away, cowering in the corner as all she could do was listen to what was likely some kind of magical struggle. If Otto killed her grandmother, Prue didn't know what she would do.

"Prue." Leo's voice was suddenly next to her. His hands gently gripped her arms as he pulled her to her feet.

She choked out a frightened, silent sob as she shrunk down against him, hoping he would shield her from Otto. She still didn't know if she should trust him, but she didn't have much of a choice. She could either let this strange man protect her, or refuse his help and risk letting the other man get his hands on her again.

Leo pulled her close, hugging careful, secure arms around her trembling body.

Prue felt herself shaking as she clung to him. She turned her head toward the noise which was undoubtedly her grandmother fighting with Otto. She wished she could see so she'd know if her grandmother was winning the fight or not.

"Are you hurt?" Leo asked, putting his hands on her upper arms and pulling her back, likely so he could see her better in order to try to answer his own question when she remained silent.

Prue stared blindly ahead as she opened her mouth and shook her head. She couldn't speak. She couldn't answer. She exhaled a shaking breath and cowered down.

"Can you see?" Leo's voice sounded like he was frowning.

She shook her head and opened her mouth again. She put her hand on her throat, trying to tell him she couldn't speak either.

"Okay. Stay still." She felt Leo's hand on her throat and felt what she could only describe as a sort of warm glow go through her.

She exhaled and coughed and then tried to speak again. "Leo..." She whispered. Her voice still sounded strained. "Is my grandma okay?"

"She will be." Leo's hand moved over toward her eyes. She felt the warm, calming glow again and could finally see.

She looked past Leo in time to see Otto produce a fireball in his hand. Prue held her breath, unable to react. Maybe she could move that with her power, burn him with his own flame. But then, it wasn't a solid object. She didn't know how.

"Grams! Watch out!" She screamed.

But her grandmother was way ahead of her. The woman waited for Otto to throw the fire and then with a flick of her wrist, she sent the flaming orb right back at him, scoffing as he burst into flames and then disappeared entirely.

"Prudence." Grams spoke tiredly as she crossed the room and wrapped Prue up in a strong, warm hug.

Prue couldn't help but to sob. She was so overwhelmed, and so relieved. She wanted to tell her grandmother how happy she was that the older woman was here. She wanted to ask how they were going to get out. She wanted to ask if her grandmother had any more powers besides the one she seemed to share with Prue. But Prue couldn't seem to do anything but sob loud, breathless, painful, shaking tears. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd ever cried so hard in her entire life.

"You're okay now, Dear. You're going to be okay." Grams spoke calmly as she ran her fingers carefully through Prue's long dark hair. "I got the son of a bitch. He's vanquished. He'll never hurt you or anyone else ever again."

Grams let Prue cry until her sobs died down before pulling back and looking at her granddaughter with kind, forgiving, sympathetic eyes.

"He said he was a photographer." Prue sniffed. "Not the guy you just saw... Another guy. He lied. He tricked me. Then they told me about magic and tried to teach me how to use it. They let me go to a school, but maybe not really. It was another trap. I told a boy there that I had been kidnapped, and about my powers... but he wasn't real. It was a trick, to see if I'd tell."

"How many of them were there?" Grams asked, letting her eyes scan the room.

"Three." Prue answered.

Grams put her hand lightly on Prue's cheek. "Tell me about each of them. Could you recognize them in a photo? Did they all look like regular humans?"

Prue shrugged. "I could recognize them. I know their names too. Nickolas was the one who tricked me. He convinced me to get in his car and he drugged me. I don't know why he bothered getting me to come willingly, because he has magic powers. He left me in a place that looked like an old jail cell. There's where I met Otto... the one you met already." Prue swallowed and looked down.

"Prudence..." Grams shook her head and frowned, pulling Prue into a hug again. "I'm so sorry. I should have protected you. My sweet, precious little grand daughter... I was supposed to keep you safe. You should have never had to suffer through something to awful, so violating... I'm so sorry you had to go through that. He had no right to lay a finger on you, let alone-"

"H-he didn't..." Prue interrupted, exhaling and swallowing. "He didn't rape me, Grams." She looked down again, feeling embarrassed. "He tried to, at least twice. Maybe three times. I wasn't sure on the first one. Nickolas stopped him two of the times, but maybe he knew what Otto would do all along and didn't care... But, he didn't actually rape me." She emphasized, trying to convince herself that she was okay and that she didn't need to feel absolutely terrified and violated.

"He still hurt you though, Prue. In ways he had absolutely no right to. If demons and witches are sworn enemies hell-bent on killing one-another, then so be it... But sexual assault has no place in the equation." Grams frowned.

Prue nodded. She looked up at Grams with a frown. "Why didn't you tell me about magic?" She asked.

Grams exhaled. "Because this is the kind of attention it attracts, Sweetheart. You had your magic as a child. It put you and Piper in great danger. We had to trade your magic for your safety."

Prue looked down, still wondering whether or not that was entirely fair. She supposed she could see that it was a more complex issue than Nickolas made it out to be. It wasn't that Grams didn't trust her or think she was mature enough... It was that she wanted to protect her granddaughters from people like Nickolas, Otto, and Jack.

"Who was the third demon?" Grams got back on track.

"A man named Jack. He's very powerful." Prue explained. "He was the one who tricked me into thinking I was talking to a boy, when it was really him. I said too much, and it made him mad. He did something, and it made my whole body feel nothing but pain... Just the worst pain imaginable. It was horrible."

Grams nodded. "I think I know who Jack is. We'll have to research Nickolas. But first, let's get you home."

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	15. Chapter 15

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CHAPTER 15

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"There are certain things in the world that are meant to be, and others which aren't." Leo explained as he put his hands carefully on Prue's hurt arm and worked whatever magic he possessed that would heal it.

Presently she was in her grandmother's bedroom, waiting for the woman to return. Grams had apparently brewed a potion to bypass whatever spell was preventing Leo from helping Prue escape the strange room Jack had sent her to. Back home, she had shown Prue drawings of different men and creatures in a large, old-looking book until Prue had identified the men who had taken her. Each of the pages had both the human man as well as a scary looking human-like monster drawn onto it.

Apparently these demons weren't actually human at all. They just looked that way to lure in unsuspecting victims. She found Nickolas's true appearance wasn't that charming. Of course, the inscription next to his drawn image noted that one of his powers was some kind of power of suggestion. That meant there was literal magic involved in him convincing her to get into that car. It made her feel a lot less like an idiot for going with him in the first place, or for ever trusting him in any way.

Now Grams was enacting her revenge while Prue waited at home with Leo, who her grandmother seemed to fully trust.

"I suppose you could call it destiny." Leo went on. "And you and I weren't destined to really know each other until many years from now. Later in your life, when you and your sisters are older, I'm meant to come to you and help protect you. As your grandmother said, good magic attracts bad magic. Whitelighters, like myself, help protect witches against all the demons and warlocks who would seek to hurt them. I've been keeping an eye on you and your sisters since you were small children."

Prue frowned and looked down at her arm as the finger-shaped bruises around it faded under Leo's hands. "Why weren't you there when Nickolas took me?"

"Your magic was bound. At the time, you weren't an active witch. You're not meant to have your powers yet. Nickolas and the others attempted to alter destiny. You're destined to do great things, to be a powerful source of good. They wanted to turn your loyalty, to teach you to use your powers against good witches and innocents. My presence wasn't meant to be so involved just yet, but I had to come early to intervene." Leo explained. "I hear the calls for help from good witches, particularly the ones I'm assigned to. You had no heavily active Whitelighter because you weren't meant to have powers. Not yet. I'll have to discuss with the elders the possibility of my being around more often. Even without your powers, you and your sisters attract danger. You're not meant to have powers yet... but maybe you do need me around more."

"But I had powers before, when I was a child. Grams said so." Prue looked up at him. If it was her destiny to not have powers yet, why was she born with them?

"And you'll have them back later. It may not feel fair right now, but it's your destiny. It's important not to alter destiny." Leo explained.

"So is Grams going to take my powers again?" Prue wondered. She wasn't so sure that was a bad thing. Having powers wasn't that great, especially not considering the horrible, frightening people who gravitated toward her because of it.

Leo nodded. "I would suppose she will. And you'll likely not remember any of this. Your grandmother can block memories, and if she can't, I can. As I said, you have a certain destiny, and this isn't it. I wouldn't want the trauma you've faced here to be forever associated with your magic."

"I won't remember any of it?" Prue frowned. "I won't remember that I have powers? Or that Grams does? I won't remember you?"

Leo shook his head. "We'll meet again though. You'll have your magic again. When you're ready. When destiny is ready."

Prue nodded and sat down on the end of Grams's bed. She thought back to before, when Otto was attacking her, when she wanted so badly to be home... and then she kind of was, but not really. Leo had called it something. Leo and Grams had seen her... Unless none of it was real.

"Leo?" She asked.

"Yeah?" He sat down next to her.

"So, do I have more than just the one power then? When I kinda... teleported here sorta... Was that real?" Prue wondered. "I saw you and Grams, and you guys seemed to see me... unless it wasn't real. I may have been dreaming."

Leo smiled and nodded. "That was called astral projection. A witch's powers often grow over time. I think the stress you were under caused yours to grow faster than usual. Oftentimes with magic, whenever things are at their most intense, when you're in the most danger, that's when your powers work best. You were in a fight or flight mindset. Your body chose to do both."

Prue nodded slowly, trying to fully understand what had happened. "So... I teleported here... but I stayed there too?"

"You stayed there." Leo explained further, turning his body to face her. "Your consciousness came here. That power is very useful if you use it right, and though it seemed to be your first time using it, you did use it well. We knew we needed to get there quickly once we saw you. We knew you wouldn't have found that power if you weren't in real trouble."

"Wow..." Prue whispered, looking across the room and staring at the wall. This was still so unbelievable. A part of her felt almost sad that her grandmother was going to take the powers back until she was older. It was such a special thing to find out about herself - that she had magic powers... But then, she wasn't sure if she'd never not feel terrified knowing there were bad people with magic powers too.

"Leo, what if Grams doesn't find Nickolas and Jack? What if they come back for me?" Prue asked nervously.

"I don't think she's going to fail to find them, Prue." Leo forced a small smile. "I don't know the woman that well, but she's pretty passionate about ending this. I can tell. She's not going to let them anywhere near you ever again. And I know I'm going to be paying more attention to you and your sisters now too. You won't necessarily know I'm there, but I'll be watching out for all three of you."

"Good." Prue spoke in a small voice as she climbed further onto the bed and laid back. "I'm really tired. Do you think I could sleep for a while until Grams gets back?" She asked.

"Of course." Leo moved to stand.

Prue reached out toward his arm. "Can you stay?" She wondered with a frown, hoping she didn't seem like a needy child. "U-until Grams gets back?" She stammered with a nervous laugh.

Leo nodded with a warm smile and sat back down, pulling Gram's blankets back for Prue so that she could crawl into the bed. She snuggled down and looked over at him as he sat on the edge of the mattress and stared ahead as though deep in thought. She wondered what he was thinking about.

Yawning, Prue continued watching him. She couldn't believe she almost fell for Nickolas's tricks. The man almost had her believing that Grams had been wrong to bind her powers. A part of her had actually felt cheated by Grams, and grateful toward her kidnappers. She had started to trust Nickolas... The man who kidnapped her. Who left her with a man he knew would try to rape her... And if what Otto had said was true, Nickolas may have even encouraged the man to hurt and humiliate her all to serve his own selfish purpose.

She watched Leo as she felt her eyelids growing heavy. She felt guilty for feeling like Grams had cheated her, and for believing Nickolas was misunderstood and anything but a villain. People like Nickolas weren't on her side. People like Leo were. He showed up when she needed him, when she was in the worst pain of her life, and he'd fixed it.

And then Grams... She was more on Prue's side than anyone in this world. The woman didn't even seem angry at Prue for trusting a random guy enough to get in his car... Prue was in trouble, and Grams saved her.

It was clear where her loyalty was deserved. She was both ashamed and angry that Nickolas had expected and nearly achieved her trust. In a way, he was worse than Otto and Jack. At least with them, they didn't pretend. They were scary. They hurt her and threatened her and never tried to appear to be something they weren't. Nickolas pretended to be her friend. He tried to get her to empathize with his life story - to feel sorry for him... after he had kidnapped her and delivered her to the other two. If it weren't for him, none of this would have happened. Maybe he wasn't the one to hurt her, but he knew the others would do so, and he let if happen.

She felt tears in her eyes as she thought about this. She wasn't sure why she expected better of Nickolas. Maybe because he had been the only source of kindness she had. Maybe part of her truly did believe he didn't want anything bad to happen to her... But that couldn't have been true. Not when he took her to Jack when he himself acted like he was scared of the man. Not when he left Otto to guard her in the first place, and then again after he had already acted inappropriately. Nickolas enabled these men, all while playing the role of her protector. He pretended to be like Leo, but he was nothing like him. Not even close.

"You still alright, Prue?" Leo asked.

Prue blinked, realizing Leo was looking right at her, his brows furrowed and a frown on his face. He had probably seen in her expression, by the tears in her eyes and the pout on her lips, that her thoughts weren't at all care-free.

She nodded and forced a smile, swallowing and blinking back tears. She closed her eyes, exhaled tiredly, and shook her head. "I feel like an idiot."

"Why?" Leo wondered, shifting on the mattress slightly.

Prue opened her eyes again and looked at him. "For going with him... That was so stupid. And then... Well, I started to almost trust him. After he kidnapped me!" She laughed a dry, forced laugh. "And after he left me with Otto twice..." She offered in a whisper.

"None of that is your fault, Prue." Leo reminded her, reaching over and gripping her hand carefully. "He has suggestion powers. It's what he does, how he lures people in. That's not your fault."

Prue nodded, looking down at her hand, which Leo was still holding. She squeezed his hand lightly. "I know... I understand that. It's still hard to not feel like it's something I could have avoided if I had just been smarter."

"You're a smart girl, Prue. Nickolas used his powers against you. That's all. It could have happened to anyone. Likely, the second he started talking to you, he was using his suggestion power. The only thing you could have done would have been to not be there, and he was probably following you. He would have found you wherever you were. At the very least, you can look at it like this: Your grandmother is vanquishing all three of them. This whole situation led to three fewer demons being in the world. You did your part to help keep other witches safe."

Prue smiled. "I guess." She agreed, finally letting her tired eyes close. Hopefully her grandma would be back soon,

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	16. Chapter 16

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CHAPTER 16

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It was the middle of the night when Prue woke to the feeling of someone touching her arm and a man's voice saying her name. Her automatic instinct was to flinch away. "Don't touch me!" She gasped, immediately sitting up and shrinking down against the pillows.

She pulled her arms away, and shrunk back before realizing it was Leo who had grabbed her. "Leo..." She whispered, frowning. He looked frantic. "What's wrong?"

"We have to go." Leo told her, reaching toward her again.

"I'll just follow you." Nickolas's voice spoke.

Prue gasped and stared past Leo's shoulder to see Nickolas standing near the bedroom's door.

"Come on. I'll come back for your sisters." Leo went on, reaching toward her arms again.

Prue shook her head. "He'll follow me... Like he said. He cast some kind of spell to be able to find me."

"Then you'll need to use your power against him, Prue. Do you think you can?" Leo asked.

"Um..." Prue hesitated, looking from Leo to Nickolas. Nickolas stayed planted near the door. His eyebrows were raised and he looked almost amused as he looked back.

"Prue..." Leo's voice sounded far away, even though he was right next to her.

Prue shook her head. She didn't want to kill Nickolas. Maybe he did deserve death for what he'd put her through... but maybe he didn't. She felt tears in her eyes. He had been kind to her for the most part. Patient, understanding, protective... But he had been the one who kidnapped her. He wouldn't let her leave. He let Jack threaten and hurt her. He kept leaving her where Otto had access to her... and he knew what Otto wanted. He knew the other man would hurt her in unimaginable, horrible, humiliating ways. He didn't care about her enough to keep Otto away.

"Why did you do this to me, Nickolas?" She blurted before thinking better of it, holding her head high and trying to keep her tears from falling as she climbed out of the bed and stood next to Leo, who held her hand in a firm grip.

Leo looked nervous still as he stood beside her, likely ready to orb them out of here if he needed to.

"I feel sick about what Otto put you through. Believe me." Nickolas spoke. "I don't condone that."

Prue felt tears welling up in her eyes. "You didn't stop him... and that last time, you even knew he was going to hurt me. I told you before it happened. And you didn't even try to stop him."

"Did he rape you?" Nickolas frowned. She couldn't tell if his concern was genuine or not. If he did really care though, wouldn't he have taken her seriously when she told him about Jack's threats? Wouldn't he have done anything and everything possible to keep Otto away from her after he had already tried to rape her twice before?

Prue glared. Maybe he didn't even deserve an answer to that. It wasn't like he really cared. He couldn't possibly. If the thought of someone raping her made him that sick, he would have stayed when Prue told him Jack was going to send Otto down to hurt her. Or he would have taken her back with him.

Nickolas shook his head. "I was only trying to help you, Prue. I gave you your power back... You're growing stronger, more powerful. If you stay here, you won't have that power anymore. Things are better with us... Or, they will be eventually. You just have to learn everyone's limits. Jack would have never hurt you if-"

"No." Prue interrupted. "Don't you dare blame me for everything you guys did to me. Maybe Jack wouldn't have hurt me if I didn't try to escape, but I wasn't wrong. And what was I supposed to do about Otto? How could I have possibly prevented that? What's his limit? What is it that I did to set him off, Nickolas? I'm not allowed to be female around him?"

Nickolas exhaled. "Things will be different now. You can come back... We can win more money, buy you anything you want. Otto's gone now, so you don't need to worry about him. You know your grandmother's just going to take your powers again, right?"

Prue scowled, squeezing Leo's hand with hers. "Why do I need powers right now anyway, Nickolas? So creeps like you can try to use them for your own selfish cause? What about what I want? I don't like cheating or hurting people. I don't want to be like you."

Nickolas frowned as he stared back. His ordinarily gorgeous blue eyes looked more dull and angry now. Perhaps he was losing patience with her.

"You lied to me. Over and over again. You tricked me into thinking maybe I wanted to use my powers for material things... That's not what I want. I wasn't given these powers to help you cheat at casinos." Prue went on.

"Honey, we were only just getting started. The casino was child's play." Nickolas explained. "You can have anything you want in this world."

"What I want is my family." Prue growled, squeezing Leo's hand tighter. "With or without magic, what matters to me are the people I love... And not doing things for myself if it hurts others. You and Jack and Otto... You're not on my side... You just wanted to use me... But it's not going to happen anymore. Otto's gone, and Jack's gonna be next. My Grandma's defeating him right now."

"Prue..." Leo whispered, likely wanting to warn her against giving out too much information.

Nickolas laughed. "Your grandmother is most certainly not defeating Jack. Not by herself."

"Yes she is." Prue countered. "She defeated Otto by herself. She made it look easy. She's very powerful."

"I don't doubt that, Baby, but Jack is much stronger than Otto. I'd guess only The Charmed Ones could defeat him... and they don't exist yet." He cocked his head slightly to the side and smirked. "Jack is probably torturing your grandmother right now. Maybe he'll do her a favor and kill her quickly if you cooperate."

Prue stared at him, shaking her head slightly. "You're lying..." She spoke, hoping she was right.

Nickolas exhaled loudly. "Listen, Sweetheart. I don't want to hurt your new friend here." He nodded toward Leo. "But you need to come with me. I'm not asking you. You can come with me willingly, or I can force you. It's for your own good, Sweetheart. I just want what's best for you."

Prue shook her head. She wasn't going with him... Somehow his power of suggestion wasn't really working with her anymore. Maybe it was because she was aware of it. Maybe he wasn't bothering trying to use it anymore.

"Fine." Nickolas growled as he glared at her. She noticed his eyes glance up toward Leo before looking back at her. "We'll do it the hard way... and if things don't work out with you..." He shrugged. "There are two more young witches in this house, Prue. I don't necessarily need you."

"This doesn't have to end badly for you, Nickolas." Leo stepped forward so that he was partially shielding Prue. "If any ounce of you cares about this girl, you'll leave her and her sisters alone. I know your mother was human. I know a part of you is too."

Prue leaned forward slightly, trying to see Leo's face. He must have read up on Nickolas a lot more than she did.

"I do care about her." Nickolas admitted. "But I also care about magic and using it right. Certain things that are less than desirable for my sake will come to be if I don't intervene. She can't stay here, and if you and she both have to die to prevent what will come if she stays in the manor, then so be it."

Prue stared with wide eyes as Nickolas quickly produced an energy ball and threw it in the Whitelighter's direction. With a gasp, Prue focused on the energy ball, throwing it back the way it had come without a second thought.

She flinched and may have even let out a small scream as she watched Nickolas convulse under the power of his own attack. He made a screaming sound which indicated that whatever it was she'd thrown back at him was causing him a great deal of pain. Prue turned toward Leo, who quickly wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close against his chest.

"Did I kill him!?" Prue breathed, feeling sick and lightheaded. She was afraid to look back toward the door. She didn't want to see if she killed him. "Is he dead, Leo? I didn't want to kill him..."

Leo hugged her tighter. "You did what you had to do, Prue." He assured her.

"Oh no..." She would have sunk to the floor if Leo wasn't holding her up. "What have I done?"

"Prue..." Leo led her back to the bed, sitting her down on the end. "He would have hurt your sisters. He tried to kill you."

Prue shook her head and brought her hands up to her face, hiding her eyes from the world as she could do nothing but sob. She never wanted to kill Nickolas. What he did to her was definitely not okay, but did he deserve to die? If he did deserve death, did she have to be the one to grant it to him?

"This is part of the responsibility that comes with being a witch, Prue." Leo spoke in a soft, calm voice as he moved his hand carefully over her arm. "It's never easy to take a life... even in your own defense. I understand your pain. It's okay to feel upset... but don't feel guilty. Nickolas would have killed us both and gone after Piper and Phoebe next. He didn't give you a choice."

Prue sniffed back tears as she stayed wrapped in Leo's arms as she stared at the now vacant spot where Nickolas had last stood. She couldn't deny that Leo was right. Nickolas had been pretty blunt with his threats. If she didn't kill him, Nickolas would have killed Leo, and then Prue... and then Piper or Phoebe would have been kidnapped next. She didn't want either of her sisters to have to suffer through anything like what she'd gone through.

"I'm proud of you, Prue." Leo told her. "You did the right thing."

At this point, Prue's sobs had subsided. She was left thinking about everything that had just happened. If Nickolas was telling the truth, Grams was still in danger. "Leo?" Prue pulled back out of his arms. "Was Nickolas right about Jack being too strong for Grams?"

Leo stared down at her with his mouth slightly open. He seemed hesitant to answer.

"He said The Charmed Ones could defeat him." Prue remembered. "But he said they didn't exist... So what do we do? Can we find them somehow? He said they didn't exist 'yet,' so is this something we can help come into being? Like with magic?"

Leo swallowed and blinked his eyes for a long few seconds. He opened his eyes and looked down at her. "I don't know if we should pursue that..."

"Why not?" Prue frowned. Grams needed them. "We can find them. Whoever they are, we can find them." She stared at Leo as he looked more and more apprehensive. Why didn't he want to find these people? It would save Gram's life. What harm could it do? "You know who they are don't you?"

Leo nodded.

"Well where do we find them? Who are they?" Prue asked again.

"They're you, Prue." Leo finally answered. "You, Piper, and Phoebe. You're destined to be The Charmed Ones. That's why Jack and Nickolas wanted to separate you from your sisters. To turn your powers against theirs, to prevent The Charmed Ones from becoming the powerful force of good you three are destined to become."

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	17. Chapter 17

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CHAPTER 17

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Fortunately for Prue, Leo seemed to have quite a bit of knowledge about her and her sisters' powers and how magic worked in general. She supposed that was what Whitelighters were for - to know everything there was to know about the witches they were sent to protect.

Apparently, there was a basic spell that might work if the three sisters held hands and said it in Jack's presence. It was supposed to be extra powerful because of who they were - The Charmed Ones... but they'd have to do another spell first, to unbind Piper and Phoebe's powers.

They also seemed to have the ability to locate almost anyone using a technique called scrying, which involved using a crystal hovering over a map and waiting for it to fall on the location of a person or object. Since they knew quite a bit about Jack, they were able to use this to pinpoint his exact location.

After explaining what it meant to be The Charmed Ones to Prue, and helping her explain the situation to a suspicious Piper and excited Phoebe, Leo led the girls up to the attic, where Grams stored the book she'd shown Prue before.

"Is this like a game?" Phoebe whispered.

"Um... Kind of..." Prue lied. Phoebe was only eleven years old. Maybe telling the truth in this situation wasn't a great idea. She didn't want Phoebe to be too scared to participate. She did want her youngest sister to take it seriously though. "It's an important game, Phoebe. We have to win it. I'm serious."

"Okay..." Phoebe sounded slightly nervous, but still excited.

"Where've you been for like half a month, Prue?" Piper frowned as she followed her older sister up the stairs. "Grams was really worried... but she wouldn't call the police. I almost called them myself. She's been being weird this whole time... I walked into the living room the other day and she was swinging a necklace or something around above a map. And she's been hiding up here in the attic a lot too. Every time I told her we should call the police, she'd get mad and tell me no. Like she was going to find you herself somehow. It didn't make sense... And why are you hanging out with this weird guy? You know magic isn't real, right? Is this guy nuts or something?"

"I know this is hard to believe, but you're just going to have to trust me. Grams is in trouble. We have to do this." Prue told her. "Leo's on our side. He'll help us... But there's a spell we have to say to save Grams. I'm not going to pretend it's not crazy... but we have to do this. Just trust me, Piper. Please just trust me."

Piper must have heard the gravity in her voice, because she nodded silently and stopped complaining for the moment. Prue and Piper, being so close in age, had a sort of understanding between them. They could tell when the other was joking and when they were being serious. Piper knew from Prue's tone that this was important.

"Prue, you'll have to unbind their powers. You're the only active witch here. I can't perform your spells." Leo instructed, flipping through the giant book Grams had shown her before. "Here it is. It might help if you hold hands."

Prue stood in front of the book and held out her hands for her sisters to take.

"This is fun." Phoebe giggled as she took Prue's hand. She reached out for Piper's hand as well. "Does this mean we're skipping school tomorrow? Since we're gonna be too tired?"

"I doubt it, Phoebs." Piper shook her head, taking each of her sisters' hands in hers. "Prue doesn't get to decide that. Grams'll be mad that we got up in the middle of the night. Probably mad that we're hanging out with this strange man too... no matter how cute he is." She added in a whisper.

"Ew..." Phoebe laughed.

"Let's focus, guys." Prue told them. "This is really important. Please take it seriously." She looked down at the page and read the inscription aloud. As soon as she finished, it felt like a gust of wind moved through the attic.

Piper gasped softly and looked at Prue. "Is this real?" She asked with wide eyes, seeming to finally understand that something had actually happened just now. "Grams is really in trouble? We have magic powers?"

Prue nodded.

"Piper, your power is freezing time. You might not even need it in this instance. I theorize that if we go to where Jack is, and you three hold hands and chant the spell together, that'll do the trick." Leo explained. "But if you do think you need your power, you're just going to have to try to will it to work. Fear and stress seem to do the trick... We don't have time to practice."

"What's my power?" Phoebe asked.

"Premonition." Leo responded.

"What's that?" Phoebe frowned.

Leo smiled. "You can see visions of the future."

"Is that all?" Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I can't like fly or turn invisible or anything?"

Leo shook his head and turned back toward the book, flipping to another page. "This is the spell. It's short and simple. Memorize it, and we'll go and give it a try. Keep holding hands during this. I'll be close, ready to orb us out if need be."

Prue looked at the book, reading the words silently in her head. It read, three times, 'the power of three will set us free.' That seemed simple enough. She turned the book so her sisters could see. "You got that?" She asked.

They both nodded.

Prue exhaled. A large part of her wasn't sure this could possibly work. She understood how throwing fire or energy balls back at demons could kill them. But how could just saying words do anything?

No matter how unsure she was, however, she knew she needed to be the strong one here. Her sisters were probably confused and worried enough already. She was the oldest. She needed to set a good example. "Remember to stay calm. We can do this." She told her sisters.

They both frowned as they looked back at her. It seemed they were either finally taking this seriously, or they thought she was crazy and were worried about her mental state. They'd see soon enough.

"Let's go, Leo." She reached out toward Leo, letting him wrap his arms around her and her sisters and orb them right back to where she'd encountered Jack before.

As soon as they arrived, Prue's heart felt cold. She knew what Jack was capable of, and the last thing she wanted was for him to do anything to hurt her sisters.

She gripped Piper's and Phoebe's hands tightly as she stared at Jack, who turned slowly to face them. Grams lay unmoving at his feet. Prue felt her lip tremble as she stared at her grandmother's face. The woman looked like she was in pain, but was just lying there, totally still, totally quiet.

"You've brought backup..." Jack noted in a calm, unafraid voice.

Prue swallowed, feeling very paranoid that this wasn't going to work. Jack didn't seem scared to see that Prue had brought her sisters and Leo. Maybe he'd just kill all four of them. If Grams couldn't defeat him, how on earth were three young girls going to do it? Piper was thirteen. Phoebe was eleven... How could the three of them be powerful enough to do something their grandmother could not? Grams had been a witch for so long. If anyone could defeat Jack, it would be her, right? Not three young witches who didn't even know what they were doing...

"Your grandmother is stronger than you are." Jack told her, ignoring Leo, Piper, and Pheobe completely. "She may not be screaming and crying like you were... But she still feels pain. Everyone does."

Prue felt tears in her eyes and cold dread and fear in her heart. She remembered the pain Jack had inflicted upon her. It was the worst pain of her life. Utterly unbearable... It hurt her heart to know her grandmother was feeling that right now. Somehow it made her feel even worse that Grams was remaining so still and quiet during it. Did holding back her cries of pain and desperate movements make the pain worse?

"Now, Prue." Leo whispered.

Prue inhaled, nodded, and squeezed her sisters' hands tighter. "The power of three will set us free." She spoke in a small voice, trying to be strong even when her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest.

"That won't work." Jack frowned, though a flicker of something that almost resembled fear dashed through his eyes.

"The power of three will set us free." Piper joined in as Prue recited the words a second time.

"They don't have their powers... It won't work..." Jack persisted, frowning as he glanced toward Leo. "That's the only reason she's alive." Jack lightly kicked Grams's arm. "So you witches wouldn't get you powers back yet..."

"The power of three will set us free." Phoebe joined in so that all three sisters were chanting the spell. "The power of three will set us free. The power of three will set us free."

"Stop." Jack growled, staring back at the girls with hate and anger in his eyes. "Say it again, and I'll end you. Your grandmother too. And your Whitelighter. I'll kill all of you. Don't think I won't."

Prue squeezed Piper's and Phoebe's hands tighter, silently telling them to stay strong and to not back down now.

"The power of three will set us free." They all three said in unison again.

A growl tore from Jack's throat as he looked like wind was blowing around him. He held out his hand and created a large ball of fire as the girls continued their chant.

"The power of-" Prue was cut off when Jack threw the flaming ball. She tried to throw it back, but couldn't. She kept it from hitting them, but couldn't throw it backwards. She only managed to stop it halfway, and Jack seemed to be trying to throw it still, without even touching it. It just levitated between the two of them, slowing inching toward Prue and her sisters. "Leo..." Prue gasped as she stepped to the side only to see the fireball move along with her.

"Keep going... I think you're almost there... Just try to stay focused..." Leo sounded out of breath, but she could tell he was trying to remain calm.

"The power of three w-" Prue gasped again as the ball jolted even closer. "I can't hold it back!" She whimpered, staring and focusing as best as she could. She felt entirely exhausted and drained. Jack was so powerful. It took every bit of her energy to keep the fire ball from hitting them. She could feel she wasn't going to be able to hold it back for much longer.

"The power of three will set us free!" Prue spoke faster, causing her sisters to follow her example. "The power of three will set us free. The power of three will se-"

The three of them screamed as Prue's focus waned and the ball suddenly jerked forward, and then froze in place.

Prue breathed in a shocked breath. She stared at Jack, who seemed to be frozen in place as well. She wasn't doing this... She looked down at Piper, whose hands were raised defensively in front of her as she breathed in and out shocked, frightened breaths.

"Piper!" Prue gasped, quickly hugging her sister before gripping both Piper's and Phoebe's hands again and nodding quickly. "The power of three will set us free!" She said again, with both of her sister's following her lead.

With that, Jack burst into flames, making the same sort of pained sounds Nickolas had made.

Prue pulled her sisters out of the path of the fireball, just in case, as the three of them stared at Jack. She noticed Leo rush over toward Grams, putting his hand above her and healing her just as he had for Prue earlier.

"Leo, where's Prue?" Grams gasped as soon as she was able to speak.

"She's here." Leo nodded over toward them. "They all are."

"Girls?!" Grams's voice shook as she pulled herself to her feet and rushed toward them, pulling them all into one huge hug.

"Grams, are you okay?" Prue asked.

Grams pulled back and looked at Prue, then at Piper and Pheobe. "You're all three here... You worked together. I'm fine... I'm fine. Are you?"

The three of them nodded.

"We had to unbind their powers... to be The Charmed Ones... Nickolas said it was the only way to defeat Jack." Prue explained.

"The Charmed Ones..." Grams smiled softly, putting her hand on Piper's face. She glanced down at Phoebe, and then up at Prue. "This may be the last time I see you three use your powers together... You did so well. I know you must have been scared. Are you alright, Phoebe, Piper?"

"Are you kidding?" Phoebe gasped. "That was so cool!"

"Yeah..." Piper sounded more uncertain. "That was scary... I can't believe I froze him. Leo said we didn't have time to practice. I didn't even know how to do it... But it just happened."

Grams pulled Piper into a hug and then moved back, looking carefully at each of the three of her grand daughters.

"I know you didn't want us to have our powers yet, and maybe I shouldn't have reversed your spell... I didn't want to put Piper and Phoebe in danger, but Nickolas said we needed The Charmed Ones to save you... I didn't know what else to do... You can undo it and get rid of memories or whatever you need to do..." Prue rambled.

Grams laughed. "I am going to have to do that... but first..." She looked at each of her grand daughters. "I want you each to know how proud I am of you. You've been so brave... I have to admit... at times I worry about your future - with the constant bickering..." She shook her head. "But clearly you three know to come together when it matters. If you can defeat someone like Jack when you're only children... Your future will be fine."

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THE END


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